Black and white photograph of Mencken looking over his shoulder at the camera

H.L. Mencken

(1880 - 1956)

Sinclair Lewis

(1885 - 1951)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Joseph Goebbels

(1897 - 1945)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Janet Malcolm

(1934 - 2021)

Rod Blagojevich

Italian businessman and con artist Charles Ponzi.

Charles Ponzi

(1882 - 1949)

David W. Maurer

(1906 - 1981)

American non-fiction writer David Samuels.

David Samuels

Bernie Madoff

Greek dramatist Sophocles.

Sophocles

(c. 496 BC - 406 BC)

Patricia Highsmith

(1921 - 1995)

Canadian-born American economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

John Kenneth Galbraith

(1908 - 2006)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

American writer and editor St. Clair McKelway.

St. Clair McKelway

(1905 - 1980)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Bertolt Brecht

(1898 - 1956)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Korean poet and playwright Kim Chi-ha.

Kim Chi-ha

Chester Himes

(1909 - 1984)

Anna Laetitia Barbauld

(1743 - 1825)

Black and white photograph of Friedrich Nietzsche with a huge mustache.

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844 - 1900)

Nicholas Pileggi

Black and white photograph of a young F. Scott Fitzgerald sitting at a desk.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

Ida M. Tarbell

(1857 - 1944)

Painted portrait of Florentine statesman and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Niccolò Machiavelli

(1469 - 1527)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

British scholar and military officer T.E. Lawrence.

T.E. Lawrence

(1888 - 1935)

American abolitionist and author Harriet Jacobs.

Harriet Jacobs

(1813 - 1897)

Painted portrait of Native American leader Black Hawk.

Black Hawk

(1767 - 1838)

Portrait of Chinese fiction writer Pu Songling.

Pu Songling

(1640 - 1715)

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

Saint Augustine (detail), by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645.

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Engraving of a bearded man seated with a crutch and writing at a desk

Epictetus

(c. 55 - c. 135)

Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri

(1265 - 1321)

French detective Eugène François Vidocq.

Eugène François Vidocq

(1775 - 1857)

American writer Robert Penn Warren.

Robert Penn Warren

(1905 - 1989)

Black and white photograph of a young Mark Twain with dark hair.

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

American psychologist and philosopher William James.

William James

(1842 - 1910)

American showman P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum

(1810 - 1891)

Damon Runyon

(1880 - 1946)

Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

Black power leader H. Rap Brown.

H. Rap Brown

Novelist and psychiatrist Daniel Mason.

Daniel Mason

Lawrence Osborne

Portrait of English lyrical poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(1772 - 1834)

Clancy Martin

Italian artist and author Giorgio Vasari.

Giorgio Vasari

(1511 - 1574)

Engraving of Roman poet Horace.

Horace

(65 BC - 8 BC)

James Dabney McCabe

(1842 - 1883)

George Devol

(1829 - 1903)

Rudolf Vrba

(1924 - 2006)

James M. Cain

(1892 - 1977)

black and white pencil drawing of Moliere in an ornate frame

Molière

(1622 - 1673)

Saki

(1870 - 1916)

Sun Tzu

(c. 544 BC - c. 496 BC)

Sepia colored photo of Oscar Wilde sitting on a rock with a book in his hand

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

Susan Sontag

(1933 - 2004)

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Robert Hughes

(1938 - 2012)

Jean Baudrillard

(1929 - 2007)

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

Malcolm X

(1925 - 1965)

Yasunari Kawabata

(1899 - 1972)

Black and white image of French classical author La Rochefoucauld.

La Rochefoucauld

(1613 - 1680)

Black and white photograph of a young H.G. Wells with a mustache.

H.G. Wells

(1866 - 1946)

Sjón

Marguerite de Navarre

(1492 - 1549)