In the course of his life, Thomas Paine invented a smokeless candle, received a patent for a single-span iron bridge, worked on developing steam engines, made corsets by day and wrote political pamphlets by night that would—among other things—depose a king, skewer the sacred cows … [Read more...]

At the age of twenty-six, Flannery O’Connor was diagnosed with disseminated lupus, and given five years to live. She was staying with friends in Connecticut when she fell ill.  Flannery had left the South after college with no intention of returning for more than an occasional … [Read more...]