Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919), Scottish-born U.S. businessman and philanthropist. He considered that the rich had a responsibility toward society, a view put forward in his book The Gospel of Wealth (1900).  He provided capital for numerous social and educational projects, including many libraries. A fervent socialist, visiting Carnegie, spoke at some length about the evils of capitalism and the need for fair distribution of […]

Tomorrow  marks the day when President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot in Ford’s Theater (April 14, 1865), so I thought a Lincoln anecdote might be appropriate in advance of that. Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865), US statesman; 16th president of the United States. (A clerk of the court relates the only occasion on which he was fined for contempt […]

I had coffee with a colleague yesterday at the Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street, so I feel obligated to include an anecdote today on the hotel’s most iconic patron, Algonquin Round Table hostess Dorothy Parker. Parker, Dorothy (1893-1967), US short-story writer, theater critic, doyenne of minor light verse, and wit. “At one time Dorothy Parker had […]

Twain, Mark (1835-1910) “As Twain and his good friend the writer William Dean Howells were leaving church one Sunday, it started to rain heavily. Howells looked up at the clouds and said, ‘Do you think it will stop?’ “’It always has,’” replied Twain. Courtesy of The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Editor. (A highly […]