John Joseph Becker (b. Henderson, Kentucky, January 22, 1886; d. Wilmette, Illinois, January 21, 1961) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is grouped together with Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, and Wallingford Riegger as a member of the "American Five" composers of "ultra-modern" music.
The John J. Becker Papers are held by the Music Division of the New York Public Library.[1] Another collection, the Dr. John J. Becker (1886-1961) Papers, is held at the University of St. Thomas Libraries in Minnesota
Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Howard was born and raised in the state of Texas. He spent most of his life in the town of Cross Plains with some time spent in nearby Brownwood.
A bookish and intellectual child, he was also a fan of boxing and spent some time in his late teens bodybuilding, eventually taking up amateur boxing. From the age of nine he dreamed of becoming a writer of adventure fiction but did not have real success until he was 23. Thereafter, until his death at the age of 30 by suicide, Howard's writings were published in a wide selection of magazines, journals, and newspapers, and he had become successful in several genres. Although a Conan novel was nearly published into a book in 1934, his stories never appeared in book form during his lifetime. The main outlet for his stories was in the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
Howard’s suicide and the circumstances surrounding it have led to varied speculation about his mental health. His mother had been ill with tuberculosis his entire life, and upon learning that she had entered a coma from which she was not expected to wake, he walked out to his car and shot himself in the head. Howard created Conan the Barbarian, in the pages of the Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales, a character whose cultural impact has been compared to such icons as Tarzan, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. With Conan and his other heroes, Howard created the genre now known as sword and sorcery, spawning many imitators and giving him a large influence in the fantasy field. Howard remains a highly read author, with his best works still reprinted.
Irving Kristol (January 22, 1920 – September 18, 2009) was an American columnist, journalist, and writer who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism". As the founder, editor, and contributor to various magazines, he played an influential role in the intellectual and political culture of the last half-century; after his death he was described by The Daily Telegraph as being "perhaps the most consequential public intellectual of the latter half of the 20th century"
The John J. Becker Papers are held by the Music Division of the New York Public Library. Another collection, the Dr. John J. Becker (1886-1961) Papers, is held at the University of St. Thomas Libraries in Minnesota
ReplyDeleteDuring Howard's youth his parents' relationship began to break down. The Howard family had problems with money which may have been exacerbated by Isaac Howard investing in get-rich-quick schemes. Hester Howard, meanwhile, came to believe that she had married below herself. Soon the pair was actively fighting. Hester did not want Isaac to have anything to do with their son. His mother Hester had a particularly strong influence on his intellectual growth. She had spent her early years helping a variety of sick relatives, contracting tuberculosis in the process. She instilled in her son a deep love of poetry and literature, recited verse daily and supported him unceasingly in his efforts to write.
ReplyDeleteIn July 2002, Irving Kristol received from President George W. Bush the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
ReplyDeleteKristol was affiliated with the Congress for Cultural Freedom; he wrote in Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952, under the editor Elliot Cohen (not to be confused with Elliot A. Cohen the writer of today's magazine); co-founder (with Stephen Spender) of the British-based Encounter from 1953 to 1958; editor of The Reporter from 1959 to 1960; executive vice-president of the publishing house Basic Books from 1961 to 1969; Henry Luce Professor of Urban Values at New York University from 1969 to 1987; and co-founder and co-editor (first with Daniel Bell and then Nathan Glazer) of The Public Interest from 1965 to 2002. He was the founder and publisher of The National Interest from 1985 to 2002. Following Ramparts' publication of information showing Central Intelligence Agency funding of the Congress, which was widely reported elsewhere, Kristol left in the late 1960s and became affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute
ReplyDeleteBorn today, Helen Lyman, commonly known as Helen Hoyt , (1887–1972), was an American poet. Early in her career Helen Hoyt was an Associate Editor of the journal Poetry, and also had numerous articles and poems published within the magazine from 1913 to 1936, including include Ellis Park, Memory, Lamp Posts and Rain At Night. She also edited the September 1916 edition of Others: A Magazine of the New Verse, the woman's number.
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