Photograph of African-American poet and writer Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

(1902 - 1967)

Black and white photograph of Polish-born English writer Joseph Conrad.

Joseph Conrad

(1857 - 1924)

Black and white photograph of Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi.

Primo Levi

(1919 - 1987)

Hugo Grotius

(1583 - 1645)

Black and white photograph of a mustached man wearing glasses with his hand under his chin

Sholem Aleichem

(1859 - 1916)

English writer Geoffrey Chaucer.

Geoffrey Chaucer

(c. 1342 - 1400)

Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri

(1265 - 1321)

Naguib Mahfouz

(1911 - 2006)

François-René de Chateaubriand

(1768 - 1848)

Henry Morgenthau

(1856 - 1946)

Ammianus Marcellinus

(c. 330 - 395)

Shimazaki Toson

(1872 - 1943)

Black and white photograph of a dark-haired man in a white shirt holding a newspaper

Cesar Chavez

(1927 - 1993)

Sepia image of a stern-looking older man with heavy side whiskers

Charles Gunter

(1806 - 1883)

Cai Yan

(c. 170 - c. 249)

Edwin Way Teale

(1899 - 1980)

Portrait of Alfred Newton

Alfred Newton

(1829 - 1907)

Gray-haired bearded man wearing a pince-nez and a three-piece suit

George Sutherland

(1862 - 1942)

Elizabeth Kolbert

Alex Haley

(1921 - 1992)

Seated man with a large white beard wearing a dark suit

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Reinaldo Arenas

(1943 - 1990)

Engraving of a bust of Lucretius.

Lucretius

(c. 95 BC - c. 50 BC)

Mian Xiaohong

Man wearing a brown hat, black glasses, and a yellow corduroy jacket over a denim shirt

Colin Grant

Black and white photograph of political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt holding a cigarette.

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Chava Rosenfarb

(1923 - 2011)

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

(1907 - 1964)

Color photograph of American writer Annie Dillard.

Annie Dillard

Bernard De Voto

(1897 - 1955)

Denise Levertov

(1923 - 1997)

Nadja Drost

Julian Barnes

Edward Said

(1935 - 2003)

Farley Mowat

(1921 - 2014)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

American singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie.

Woody Guthrie

(1912 - 1967)

Simon Pokagon

(1830 - 1899)

Jacob Riis

(1849 - 1914)

Black and white photograph of a woman with chin-length dark hair wearing a sleeveless turtleneck

Stephanie DeGooyer

Charles Morton

(1627 - 1698)

Painting of a gray-haired man looking to the left

Meriwether Lewis

(1774 - 1809)

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

Black and white photograph of African-American leader Malcolm X.

Malcolm X

(1925 - 1965)

Diego Durán

(c. 1537 - 1588)

Photograph of British humanist, naturalist, and critic Alfred Russel Wallace.

Alfred Russel Wallace

(1823 - 1913)

Al-Biruni

(973 - c. 1052)

Bald gray-bearded man in a suit with his hand under his chin looking to the left

Ashraf Ghani

Ibn Khaldun

(1332 - 1406)

French-American author J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur.

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

(1735 - 1813)

Painted portrait of British explorer James Cook.

James Cook

(1728 - 1779)

Aimé Bonpland 

(1773 - 1858)

José de Acosta

(c. 1539 - 1600)

Mahalia Jackson

(1911 - 1972)

Sonia Shah

Gary Soto

Giordano Bruno

(1548 - 1600)

Free State Project

Saadat Hasan Manto

(1912 - 1955)

Richard Dawkins

John Ross

(1790 - 1866)

Anjali Vaidya

Julie Otsuka

Jack Black

(1871 - 1932)

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Painting of a woman with pale, fluffy hair wearing a dress with a large brooch

Marie-Thérèse of France

(1778 - 1851)

Deirdre Mask

Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Marcus Garvey

(1887 - 1940)

Solomon Schindler

(1842 - 1915)

Anna Seghers

(1900 - 1983)

Colorized engraving of Voltaire wearing a wig.

Voltaire

(1694 - 1778)

Painted portrait of German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt.

Alexander von Humboldt

(1769 - 1859)