Black and white photograph of French writer Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo

(1802 - 1885)

Woody Allen in thick black rim glasses

Woody Allen

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

Ernesto Che Guevara

(1828 - 1967)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Portrait of South American soldier and statesman Simón Bolívar.

Simón Bolívar

(1783 - 1830)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

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

Adolf Hitler

(1889 - 1945)

Black and white photograph of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.

Julio Cortázar

(1914 - 1984)

Black and white photograph of Russian revolutionary Sergei Nechaev.

Sergei Nechaev

(1847 - 1882)

Russian revolutionary and writer Victor Serge.

Victor Serge

(1890 - 1947)

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

Margaret Sanger

(1879 - 1966)

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

Henry T. Finck

(1854 - 1926)

Statue of French medieval poet and historian Jean Froissart.

Jean Froissart

(c. 1337 - c. 1405)

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

Painted portrait of former American first lady Abigail Adams.

Abigail Smith Adams

(1744 - 1818)

Black and white photograph of American inventor Thomas Alva Edison.

Thomas Alva Edison

(1847 - 1931)

Color portrait of English philosopher John Locke.

John Locke

(1632 - 1704)

Portrait bust of Greek dramatist Aeschylus.

Aeschylus

(c. 525 BC - 456 BC)

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

Henry Adams

(1838 - 1918)

Black and white photograph of Cuban poet, patriot, and martyr José Martí.

José Martí

(1853 - 1895)

Ba Bulleh Shah

(1680 - 1757)

Naguib Mahfouz

(1911 - 2006)

Color photograph of writer and editor Garret Keizer.

Garret Keizer

Black and white photograph of Mao Zedong with raised arm.

Mao Zedong

(1893 - 1976)

Painting of William Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth

(1770 - 1850)

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

A. Mitchell Palmer

(1872 - 1936)

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

Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804 - 1864)

Color image of French philosopher Auguste Comte.

Auguste Comte

(1798 - 1857)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

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

Rosa Luxemburg

(1871 - 1919)

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

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

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

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

Image of South Carolina secession leader David Flavel Jamison.

David Flavel Jamison

(1810 - 1864)

Photograph of Joan Didion

Joan Didion

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

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Portrait of King George III in military dress.

King George III

(1738 - 1820)

Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII seated.

Pope Gregory XIII

(1502 - 1585)

Painted portrait of English poet John Milton.

John Milton

(1608 - 1674)

Portrait of English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton

(1643 - 1727)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

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

John Ruskin

(1819 - 1900)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Black and white photograph of German revolutionary, economist, sociologist, and historian Karl Marx.

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

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

Václav Havel

(1936 - 2011)

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

John Reed

(1887 - 1920)

Color photograph of American writer Deb Olin Unferth.

Deb Olin Unferth

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Color painting early Chinese philosopher Mengzi.

Mencius

(c. 371 BC - c. 289 BC)

Black and white photograph of American anarchist Emma Goldman.

Emma Goldman

(1869 - 1940)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

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

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

(1809 - 1865)

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 novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Albert Camus

(1913 - 1960)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Black and white photograph of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

Guillaume Apollinaire

(1880 - 1918)

Photograph of Tunisian poet Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi.

Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi

(1909 - 1934)

Color portrait of French radical Jacobin leader Maximilien de Robespierre.

Maximilien de Robespierre

(1758 - 1794)

Portrait of communist theorist and agitator Leon Trotsky.

Leon Trotsky

(1879 - 1940)

Black and white photograph of Czech writer Karel Čapek.

Karel Čapek

(1890 - 1938)

Bust of Chinese astronomer and high official Shen Kuo.

Shen Kuo

(1031 - 1095)

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

Michael Frayn

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

Color photograph of German novelist Peter Schneider.

Peter Schneider

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

Photograph of Egyptian writer Yasmine El Rashidi.

Yasmine El Rashidi

Color photograph of writer Nicholas Carr.

Nicholas Carr

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

Stokely Carmichael

(1941 - 1998)

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

Timothy Leary

(1920 - 1996)

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

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

(1649 - 1685)

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

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

English novelist, essayist, and critic George Orwell.

George Orwell

(1903 - 1950)

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

David Graeber

Photograph of British cleric Samuel Wilberforce.

Samuel Wilberforce

(1805 - 1873)

Self-portrait of French artist Jacques-Louis David.

Jacques-Louis David

(1748 - 1825)

Color photograph of British historian Orlando Figes.

Orlando Figes

Black and white photograph of Italian artist Giacomo Balla.

Giacomo Balla

(1871 - 1958)

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

E.B. White

(1899 - 1985)

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

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

Ho Chi Minh

(1890 - 1969)

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

Anatole France

(1844 - 1924)

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

W.B. Yeats

(1865 - 1939)

Appian of Alexandria

(c. 95 - c. 165)