Color portrait of French radical Jacobin leader Maximilien de Robespierre.

Maximilien Robespierre

(1758 - 1794)

At the age of seventeen, Hawthorne mused to his mother about the possibility of “relying for support upon my pen.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804 - 1864)

Black and white photograph of psychologist and LSD advocate Timothy Leary.

Timothy Leary

(1920 - 1996)

Black and white photograph of Russian revolutionary Sergei Nechaev.

Sergei Nechaev

(1847 - 1882)

Portrait of communist theorist and agitator Leon Trotsky.

Leon Trotsky

(1879 - 1940)

Black and white photograph of prominent communist figure Ernesto Che Guevara.

Che Guevara

(1828 - 1967)

Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII seated.

Pope Gregory XIII

(1502 - 1585)

Black and white photograph of American writer and exponent of Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

Color portrait of English philosopher John Locke.

John Locke

(1632 - 1704)

Black and white photograph of French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Albert Camus

(1913 - 1960)

Black and white photograph of former Democratic Republic of Vietnam president Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh

(1890 - 1969)

Photograph of Egyptian writer Yasmine El Rashidi.

Yasmine El Rashidi

Painting of William Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth

(1770 - 1850)

Black and white photograph of American inventor Thomas Alva Edison.

Thomas Alva Edison

(1847 - 1931)

Black and white photograph of French mystic, philosopher, and activist Simone Weil.

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Color painting early Chinese philosopher Mengzi.

Mencius

(c. 371 BC - c. 289 BC)

Black and white photograph of West-Indian-born civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael.

Stokely Carmichael

(1941 - 1998)

Seated man with a large white beard wearing a dark suit

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Black and white photograph of Czech writer Karel Čapek.

Karel Čapek

(1890 - 1938)

Photograph of British cleric Samuel Wilberforce.

Samuel Wilberforce

(1805 - 1873)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Black and white photograph of former chancellor and Führer of Germany Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler

(1889 - 1945)

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Self-portrait of French artist Jacques-Louis David.

Jacques-Louis David

(1748 - 1825)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

Portrait of English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton

(1643 - 1727)

Appian of Alexandria

(c. 95 - c. 165)

Ba Bulleh Shah

(1680 - 1757)

Black and white photograph of Irish poet and writer W. B. Yeats.

W.B. Yeats

(1865 - 1939)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Image of South Carolina secession leader David Flavel Jamison.

David Flavel Jamison

(1810 - 1864)

English novelist, essayist, and critic George Orwell.

George Orwell

(1903 - 1950)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

Portrait bust of Greek dramatist Aeschylus.

Aeschylus

(c. 525 BC - 456 BC)

Black and white photograph of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

Guillaume Apollinaire

(1880 - 1918)

Color photograph of British playwright, novelist, and translator Michael Frayn.

Michael Frayn

Color photograph of British historian Orlando Figes.

Orlando Figes

Black and white photograph of Mao Zedong with raised arm.

Mao Zedong

(1893 - 1976)

Black and white photograph of American birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger.

Margaret Sanger

(1879 - 1966)

Painted portrait of former American first lady Abigail Adams.

Abigail Smith Adams

(1744 - 1818)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

Color image of French philosopher Auguste Comte.

Auguste Comte

(1798 - 1857)

Black and white photograph of American anarchist Emma Goldman.

Emma Goldman

(1869 - 1940)

Color photograph of writer Nicholas Carr.

Nicholas Carr

Black and white photograph of Italian artist Giacomo Balla.

Giacomo Balla

(1871 - 1958)

Black and white photograph of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.

Julio Cortázar

(1914 - 1984)

Portrait of King George III in military dress.

George III

(1738 - 1820)

Portrait of claimant to English throne James Scott, Duke of Monmouth.

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

(1649 - 1685)

Finck was a music critic for The Nation and the New York Evening Post from 1881 to 1924.

Henry T. Finck

(1854 - 1926)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

Painted portrait of second President of the United States John Adams.

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

Portrait of South American soldier and statesman Simón Bolívar.

Simón Bolívar

(1783 - 1830)

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

Black and white photograph of a young John Ruskin wearing a suit.

John Ruskin

(1819 - 1900)

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

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Black and white photograph of E. B. White sitting at his typewriter with his dachshund.

E.B. White

(1899 - 1985)

black and white photo of James Thurber lighting a cigarette in the new york times office

James Thurber

(1894 - 1961)

Black and white photograph of French writer Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo

(1802 - 1885)

Woody Allen in thick black rim glasses

Woody Allen

Painted portrait of French anarchist and journalist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

(1809 - 1865)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

Naguib Mahfouz

(1911 - 2006)

Black and white photograph of American revolutionary writer and activist John Reed.

John Reed

(1887 - 1920)

Photograph of Tunisian poet Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi.

Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi

(1909 - 1934)

Color photograph of writer and editor Garret Keizer.

Garret Keizer

Painted portrait of English poet John Milton.

John Milton

(1608 - 1674)

Black and white photograph of historian and man of letters Henry Adams.

Henry Adams

(1838 - 1918)

Color photograph of German novelist Peter Schneider.

Peter Schneider

Russian revolutionary and writer Victor Serge.

Victor Serge

(1890 - 1947)

Black and white photograph of French man of letters Anatole France.

Anatole France

(1844 - 1924)

Black and white photograph of Polish-born German revolutionary and agitator Rosa Luxemburg.

Rosa Luxemburg

(1871 - 1919)

José Martí

(1853 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Statue of French medieval poet and historian Jean Froissart.

Jean Froissart

(c. 1337 - c. 1405)

Bust of Chinese astronomer and high official Shen Kuo.

Shen Kuo

(1031 - 1095)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Color photograph of Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident Václav Havel.

Václav Havel

(1936 - 2011)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Black and white photograph of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud with cigar.

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

Color photograph of author David Graeber wearing a t-shirt.

David Graeber

(1961 - 2020)

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of former U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer with hands in pockets.

A. Mitchell Palmer

(1872 - 1936)

Color photograph of American writer Deb Olin Unferth.

Deb Olin Unferth