DR.B. R. AMBEDKAR

The relationship between husband and wife should be one of closest friends

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was elected as the chairman of the drafting committee that was constituted by the Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for the independent India; he was the first Law Minister of India; conferred Bharat Ratna in 1990.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is viewed as messiah of dalits and downtrodden in India. He was the chairman of the drafting committee that was constituted by the Constituent Assembly in 1947 to draft a constitution for the independent India. He played a seminal role in the framing of the constitution. Bhimrao Ambedkar was also the first Law Minister of India. For his yeoman service to the nation, B.R. Ambedkar was bestowed with Bharat Ratna in 1990.

Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 in Mhow (presently in Madhya Pradesh). He was the fourteenth child of Ramji and Bhimabai Sakpal Ambavedkar. B.R. Ambedkar belonged to the "untouchable" Mahar Caste. His father and grandfather served in the British Army. In those days, the government ensured that all the army personnel and their children were educated and ran special schools for this purpose. This ensured good education for Bhimrao Ambedkar, which would have otherwise been denied to him by the virtue of his caste.

Bhimrao Ambedkar experienced caste discrimination right from the childhood. After his retirement, Bhimrao's father settled in Satara Maharashtra. Bhimrao was enrolled in the local school. Here, he had to sit on the floor in one corner in the classroom and teachers would not touch his notebooks. In spite of these hardships, Bhimrao continued his studies and passed his Matriculation examination from Bombay University with flying colours in 1908. Bhim Rao Ambedkar joined the Elphinstone College for further education. In 1912, he graduated in Political Science and Economics from Bombay University and got a job in Baroda.

In 1913, Bhimrao Ambedkar lost his father. In the same year Maharaja of Baroda awarded scholarship to Bhim Rao Ambedkar and sent him to America for further studies. Bhimrao reached New York in July 1913. For the first time in his life, Bhim Rao was not demeaned for being a Mahar. He immersed himself in the studies and attained a degree in Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Columbia University in 1916 for his thesis "National Dividend for India: A Historical and Analytical Study." From America, Dr.Ambedkar proceeded to London to study economics and political science. But the Baroda government terminated his scholarship and recalled him back.

The Maharaja of Baroda appointed Dr. Ambedkar as his political secretary. But no one would take orders from him because he was a Mahar. Bhimrao Ambedkar returned to Bombay in November 1917. With the help of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, a sympathizer of the cause for the upliftment of the depressed classes, he started a fortnightly newspaper, the "Mooknayak" (Dumb Hero) on January 31, 1920. The Maharaja also convened many meetings and conferences of the "untouchables" which Bhimrao addressed. In September 1920, after accumulating sufficient funds, Ambedkar went back to London to complete his studies. He became a barrister and got a Doctorate in science.

After completing his studies in London, Ambedkar returned to India. In July 1924, he founded the Bahishkrit Hitkaraini Sabha (Outcastes Welfare Association). The aim of the Sabha was to uplift the downtrodden socially and politically and bring them to the level of the others in the Indian society. In 1927, he led the Mahad March at the Chowdar Tank at Colaba, near Bombay, to give the untouchables the right to draw water from the public tank where he burnt copies of the 'Manusmriti' publicly.

In 1929, Ambedkar made the controversial decision to co-operate with the all-British Simon Commission which was to look into setting up a responsible Indian Government in India. The Congress decided to boycott the Commission and drafted its own version of a constitution for free India. The Congress version had no provisions for the depressed classes. Ambedkar became more skeptical of the Congress's commitment to safeguard the rights of the depressed classes.

When a separate electorate was announced for the depressed classes under Ramsay McDonald 'Communal Award', Gandhiji went on a fast unto death against this decision. Leaders rushed to Dr. Ambedkar to drop his demand. On September 24, 1932, Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhiji reached an understanding, which became the famous Poona Pact. According to the pact the separate electorate demand was replaced with special concessions like reserved seats in the regional legislative assemblies and Central Council of States.

Dr. Ambedkar attended all the three Round Table Conferences in London and forcefully argued for the welfare of the "untouchables". Meanwhile, British Government decided to hold provincial elections in 1937. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar set up the "Independent Labor Party" in August 1936 to contest the elections in the Bombay province. He and many candidates of his party were elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly.

In 1937, Dr. Ambedkar introduced a Bill to abolish the "khoti" system of land tenure in the Konkan region, the serfdom of agricultural tenants and the Mahar "watan" system of working for the Government as slaves. A clause of an agrarian bill referred to the depressed classes as "Harijans," or people of God. Bhimrao was strongly opposed to this title for the untouchables. He argued that if the "untouchables" were people of God then all others would be people of monsters. He was against any such reference. But the Indian National Congress succeeded in introducing the term Harijan. Ambedkar felt bitter that they could not have any say in what they were called.

In 1947, when India became independent, the first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who had been elected as a Member of the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, to join his Cabinet as a Law Minister. The Constituent Assembly entrusted the job of drafting the Constitution to a committee and Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of this Drafting Committee. In February 1948, Dr. Ambedkar presented the Draft Constitution before the people of India; it was adopted on November 26, 1949.

In October 1948, Dr. Ambedkar submitted the Hindu Code Bill to the Constituent Assembly in an attempt to codify the Hindu law. The Bill caused great divisions even in the Congress party. Consideration for the bill was postponed to September 1951. When the Bill was taken up it was truncated. A dejected Ambedkar relinquished his position as Law Minister.

On May 24, 1956, on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti, he declared in Bombay, that he would adopt Buddhism in October. On 0ctober 14, 1956 he embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers. On December 6, 1956, Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar died peacefully in his sleep.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: It’s but one step more to think one vote will do no harm. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most thought-provoking American cultural leaders of the mid-nineteenth century. He represented a minority of Americans with his unconventional ideas and actions, but by the end of his life many considered him to be a wise person.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 25, 1803, to a fairly well-known New England family. His father was an important Boston minister. Young Emerson was only eight, however, when his father died and left the family to face hard times. His mother ran a boarding-house to support the family, which consisted of six children. The poverty in which the Emerson family lived did not prevent his mother from sending the promising boy to the Boston Latin School, where he received the best education of his time. In 1817, at age fourteen, he entered Harvard College. As a student, he studied more and relaxed less than some of his classmates. He won several minor prizes for his writing. When he was seventeen, he started keeping a journal and continued it for over half a century.

Emerson was slow in finding himself. After graduation from Harvard in 1821, he took a job as a teacher. Gradually he moved toward the ministry. He studied at the Harvard Divinity School, meanwhile continuing his journal and other writings. In 1826 he began his career as a Unitarian minister. Emerson received several offers before an unusually attractive one presented itself: a position as the junior pastor at Boston's noted Second Church, with the promise that he would quickly become the senior pastor. His reputation spread swiftly. Soon he was chosen chaplain (a clergyman who carries out religious services for institutions) of the Massachusetts Senate, and he was elected to the Boston School Committee.

Emerson's personal life flowered even more than his professional one, as he fell deeply in love, for the only time in his life, with a charming New Hampshire girl named Ellen Tucker. Their wedding, in September 1829, marked the start of a wonderful marriage. But it was all too short, for she died a year and a half later, leaving Emerson alone. Though he tried to find comfort in his religion, he was unsuccessful. As a result he developed religious doubts. In September 1832 he resigned his pastorate. According to his farewell sermon, he could no longer believe in celebrating Holy Communion.

Emerson's decision to leave the ministry was more difficult than he thought, because it left him with no other work to do. After months of struggling and even sickness, he scraped together enough money to take a ten-month tour of Europe.

The times were on Emerson's side, for he found on his return to America that a new tradition was emerging that held a unique promise for him. This was the lyceum, a system of lecturing that started in the late 1820s, established itself in the 1830s, and rose to great popularity during the next two decades. The local lecture clubs that sprang up discovered that they had to pay for the best lecturers, and from this he earned a modest salary. After a few seasons Emerson organized his own lecture courses in addition to his lyceum lectures. His lectures developed into essays and books, and he began publishing these in the early 1840s.

Emerson spoke out against materialism (the belief that material or physical things—not spiritual—are the most important), formal religion, and slavery. Emerson spoke of slavery in the context of the Fugitive Slave Law (1850), saying, in one of his rare bursts of obscenity (foul language), "I will not obey it, by God."

Emerson, however, was not merely against certain things; he both preached and modeled a positive attitude. He became America's leading transcendentalist (a person who believes that reality is discovered through thought and not experience). That is, he believed in a reality and a knowledge that rose above the everyday reality to which Americans were accustomed. He believed in the honesty of the person. He believed in a spiritual universe ruled by a spiritual Oversoul (the basis of all spiritual existence), with which each individual soul should try to connect. Touchingly enough, he believed in America. Though he ranked as his country's most searching critic, he helped as much as anyone to establish the "American identity." He not only called out for a genuinely American literature, but he also helped begin it through his own writings. In addition, he supported the cause of American music and American art. His grand purpose, as a matter of fact, was to assist in the creation of a native American national culture.

Emerson's first two books were brilliant. He had published a pamphlet, Nature, in 1836. He later issued two volumes of essays for a broader public, however, Essays, First Series, in 1841 and Essays, Second Series, in 1844. Their subjects were man, nature, and God. In such pieces as "Self-reliance," "Spiritual Laws," "Nature," "The Poet," and "The Over-soul," Emerson explained the inborn goodness of man, the joys of nature and their spiritual significance, and a universal god (a god that exists everywhere and belongs to all). The tone of the essays was positive, but Emerson did not neglect the realities of life. In such essays as "Compensation" and "Experience," he tried to suggest how to deal with human losses and failings.

Emerson's next book, after the second series of essays, was a volume of his poems. After that came more than one remarkable volume of text. In Representative Men: Seven Lectures (1850) Emerson considered the similarities of great men, devoting individual essays to such figures as Plato (c. 427–c. 347 B.C.E. ), William Shakespeare (1564–1616), and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). English Traits (1856) resulted from an extended visit to Great Britain.

Emerson married his second wife, Lydia Jackson of Plymouth, in 1835. They had four children, one of whom, Waldo, died when he was a little boy; the others outlived their famous father. After leaving his pastorate in Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to nearby Concord, where he stayed for the rest of his life.

Emerson's public life also expanded. During the 1850s he was drawn deeply into the struggle against slavery. Though he found some of the abolitionists (people who worked to end slavery) almost as distasteful as the slaveholders, he knew where his place had to be. Emerson became a Republican, voting for Abraham Lincoln (1809–1965).

After the Civil War (1861–65; a war between the proslavery Southern states and the antislavery Northern states), Emerson continued to lecture and write. Though he had nothing really new to say anymore, audiences continued to crowd his lectures and many readers bought his books. The best of the final books were Society and Solitude (1870) and Letters and Social Aims (1876). He was losing his memory, however, and needed more and more help from others, especially his daughter Ellen. He was nearly seventy-nine when he died on April 27, 1882.

America mourned Emerson's passing, as did much of the rest of the Western world (the United States and European countries). In the general judgment, he had been both a great writer and a great man. Certainly he had been America's leading essayist for half a century. And he had been not only one of the most wise but one of the most sincere of men. He had shown his countrymen the possibilities of the human spirit, and he had done so without a trace of arrogance.

NEIL ARMSTRONG

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand

Astronaut, military pilot, educator. Born on August 5, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first man to walk on the moon. He developed a fascination with flight at an early age and earned his student pilot's license when he was 16. In 1947, Armstrong began his studies in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a U.S. Navy scholarship.

His studies, however, were interrupted in 1949 when he was called to serve in the Korean War. A U.S. Navy pilot, Armstrong flew 78 combat missions during this military conflict. He left the service in 1952, and returned to college. A few years later, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). For this government agency he worked in a number of different capacities, including serving as a test pilot and an engineer. He tested many high-speed aircraft, including the X-15, which could reach a top speed of 4,000 miles per hour.

In his personal life, Armstrong started to settle down. He married Janet Shearon on January 28, 1956. The couple soon added to their family. Son Eric arrived in 1957, followed daughter Karen in 1959. Sadly, Karen died of complications related to an inoperable brain tumor in January 1962.

That same year, Armstrong joined the astronaut program. He and his family moved to Houston, Texas, and Armstrong served as the command pilot for his first mission, Gemini VIII. He and fellow astronaut David Scott were launched into the earth's orbit on March 16, 1966. While in orbit, they were able to briefly dock their space capsule with the Gemini Agena target vehicle. This was the first time two vehicles had successfully docked in space. During this maneuver, however, they experienced some problems and had to cut their mission short. They landed in the Pacific Ocean nearly 11 hours after the mission's start, and were later rescued by the U.S.S. Mason.

Armstrong faced an even bigger challenge in 1969. Along with Michael Collins and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, he was part of NASA's first manned mission to the moon. The trio were launched into space on July 16, 1969. Serving as the mission's commander, Armstrong piloted the Lunar Module to the moon's surface on July 20, 1969, with Buzz Aldrin aboard. Collins remained on the Command Module.

At 10:56 PM, Armstrong exited the Lunar Module. He said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," as he made his famous first step on the moon. For about two and a half hours, Armstrong and Aldrin collected samples and conducted experiments. They also took photographs, including their own footprints.

Returning on July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 craft came down in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii. The crew and the craft were picked up by the U.S.S. Hornet, and the three astronauts were put into quarantine for three weeks.

Before long, the three Apollo 11 astronauts were given a warm welcome home. Crowds lined the streets of New York City to cheer on the famous heroes who were honored in a ticker-tape parade. Armstrong received numerous awards for his efforts, including the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Armstrong remained with NASA, serving as deputy associate administrator for aeronautics until 1971. After leaving NASA, he joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati as a professor of aerospace engineering. Armstrong remained at the university for eight years. Staying active in his field, he served as the chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., from 1982 to 1992.

Helping out at a difficult time, Armstrong served as vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on the space shuttle Challenger accident in 1986. The commission investigated the explosion of the Challenger on January 28, 1986, which took the lives of its crew, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Despite being one of the most famous astronauts in history, Armstrong has largely shied away from the public eye. He gave a rare interview to the news program 60 Minutes in 2006. He described the moon to interviewer Ed Bradley, saying "It's a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more pronounced than here on earth. It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it." That same year, his authorized biography came out. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong was written by James R. Hansen, who conducted interviews with Armstrong, his family, and his friends and associates.

Armstrong lives with his second wife Carol in Indian Hill, Ohio. He and his first wife divorced in 1994.

GEORGE S. PATTON

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week

U.S. Army officer who was an outstanding practitioner of mobile tank warfare in the European and Mediterranean theatres during World War II. His strict discipline, toughness, and self-sacrifice elicited exceptional pride within his ranks, and the general was colourfully referred to as “Old Blood-and-Guts” by his men.

A 1909 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and a descendant of a Virginia family with a long military tradition, Patton became a keen student of the American Civil War (1861–65), especially its great cavalry leaders, an interest that likely contributed to the strategy of bold, highly mobile operations associated with his name. He began his army career as a cavalry lieutenant (1913) and was aide-de-camp to General John J. Pershing in Mexico (1916–17) and in England (1917). After serving with the U.S. Tank Corps in World War I, Patton became a vigorous proponent of tank warfare. He was made a tank brigade commander in July 1940. On April 4, 1941, he was promoted to major general, and two weeks later he was made commander of the 2nd Armored Division. Soon after the Japanese surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), he was made corps commander in charge of both the 1st and 2nd armoured divisions and organized the desert training centre at Indio, California. Patton was commanding general of the western task force during the U.S. operations in North Africa in November 1942. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in March 1943 and led the U.S. Seventh Army in Sicily, employing his armour in a rapid drive that captured Palermo in July.

The apogee of his career came with the dramatic sweep of his Third Army across northern France in the summer of 1944 in a campaign marked by great initiative, ruthless drive, and disregard of classic military rules. Prior to the Normandy Invasion, he was publicly placed in command of the First U.S. Army Group, a fictitious army whose supposed marshaling in eastern England helped to deceive German commanders into thinking that the invasion would take place in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Patton's armoured units were not operational until August 1, almost two months after D-Day, but by the end of the month they had captured Mayenne, Laval, Le Mans, Reims, and Châlons. They did not stop until they hurtled against the strong German defenses at Nancy and Metz in November. In December his forces played a strategic role in defending Bastogne in the massive Battle of the Bulge. By the end of January 1945, Patton's forces had reached the German frontier; on March 1 they took Trier, and in the next 10 days they cleared the entire region north of the Moselle River, trapping thousands of Germans. They then joined the Seventh Army in sweeping the Saar and the Palatinate, where they took 100,000 prisoners.

Patton's military achievements caused authorities to soften strong civilian criticism of some of his actions, including his widely reported striking of a hospitalized shell-shocked soldier in August 1943. (Patton publicly apologized for the incident.) His public criticisms of the Allied postwar denazification policy in Germany led to his removal from the command of the Third Army in October 1945.

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it

The Swiss-born philosopher (seeker of wisdom), author, political theorist (one who forms an explanation or theory on a subject based on careful study), and composer (writer of music) Jean-Jacques Rousseau ranks as one of the greatest figures of the French Enlightenment, a period of great artistic awakening in France.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born to Suzanne Bernard and Isaac Rousseau on June 28, 1712, in Geneva, Switzerland. Nine days later his mother died. At the age of three, he was reading French novels with his father, and Jean-Jacques acquired his passion for music from his aunt. His father fled Geneva to avoid imprisonment when Jean-Jacques was ten. By the time he was thirteen, his formal education had ended and he was sent to work for a notary public (someone legally empowered to certify documents), but he was soon dismissed as fit only for watchmaking. Afterwards Rousseau spent three miserable years serving as a watchmaker, which he abandoned when he found himself unexpectedly locked out of the city by its closed gates. He faced the world with no money or belongings and no obvious talents.

Rousseau found himself on Palm Sunday, 1728, in Annecy, France, at the house of Louise Eleonore, Baronne de Warens. Rousseau lived under her roof off and on for thirteen years and was dominated by her influence. Charming and clever, a natural businesswoman, Madame de Warens was a woman who lived by her wits. She supported him and found him jobs, most of which he disliked. A friend, after examining the lad, informed her that he might aspire to become a village curé (priest) but nothing more. Still Rousseau read, studied, and thought. He pursued music and gave lessons, and for a time he worked as a tutor.

Rousseau's scheme for musical notation, published in 1743 as Dissertation sur la musique moderne, brought him neither fame nor fortune—only a fond letter from the Académie des Sciences. But his interest in music spurred him to write two operas— Les Muses galantes (1742) and Le Devin du village (1752)—and permitted him to write articles on music for Denis Diderot's (1713–1784) Encyclopédie; the Lettre sur la musique française (1753) and the Dictionnaire de musique, published in 1767.

From September 1743 until August 1744 Rousseau served as secretary to the French ambassador to Venice, Italy. He experienced at firsthand the stupidity and corruption (dishonesty and deception) involved in these offices. Rousseau spent the remaining years before his success with his first Discours in Paris, where he lived the poor lifestyle of a struggling intellectual.

In March 1745 Rousseau began an affair with Thérèse Le Vasseur. She was twenty-four years old, a maid at Rousseau's lodgings. She remained with him for the rest of his life—as mistress, housekeeper, mother of his children, and finally, in 1768, as his wife. They had five children—though some biographers have questioned whether any of them were Rousseau's. Apparently he regarded them as his own even though he assigned them to a hospital for abandoned children. Rousseau had no means to educate them, and he reasoned that they would be better raised as workers and peasants by the state.

By 1749 Rousseau had befriended the French philosopher Diderot. The publication of Diderot's Lettre sur les aveugles had resulted in his imprisonment at Vincennes, France. While walking to Vincennes to visit Diderot, Rousseau read an announcement of a prize being offered by the Dijon Academy for the best essay on the question, "Has progress of the arts and sciences contributed more to the corruption or to the purification of morals?" Rousseau won the prize of the Dijon Academy with his Discours sur les sciences et les arts. His famous "attack" on civilization called for sixty-eight articles defending the arts and sciences. Though he himself regarded this essay as "the weakest in argument and the poorest in harmony and proportion" of all his works, he nonetheless believed that it sounded one of his essential themes: the arts and sciences, instead of freeing men and increasing their happiness, had for the most part imprisoned men further.

Rousseau's novel La Nouvelle Héloïse (1761) attempted to portray in fiction the sufferings and tragedy that foolish education and restrictive social customs had among sensitive creatures. Rousseau's two other major writings— L'émile ou de l'éducation (1762) and Du contrat social (1762)—undertook the more difficult task of constructing an education and a social order that would enable men to be natural and free; that is, to enable men to recognize no bondage except the bondage of natural necessity. To be free in this sense, said Rousseau, was to be happy.

La Nouvelle Héloïse appeared in Paris in January 1761. Originally entitled Lettres de deux amants, habitants d'une petite ville au pied des Alpes, the work was structurally a novel in letters, after the fashion of the English author Samuel Richardson (1689–1761). The originality of the novel won it harsh reviews, but its sexual nature made it immensely popular with the public. It remained a best seller until the French Revolution in 1789, a massive uprising calling for political and social change throughout France.

The reputation of La Nouvelle Héloïse was nothing compared to the storm produced by L'émile and Du contrat social. Even today the ideas set forth in these works are revolutionary. Their expression, especially in L'émile, in a style both readable and alluring made them dangerous. L'émile was condemned (officially dissaproved of) by the Paris Parliament (the governing body) and heavily criticized by the archbishop of Paris. Both of the books were burned by the authorities in Geneva, Switzerland.

Forced to flee from France, Rousseau sought refuge at Yverdon in the territory of Bern. There he was kicked out by the Bernese authorities and would spend the next few years seeking a safe place to live. Finally, British philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) helped Rousseau settle in Wotton, Derbyshire, England, in 1766. Hume managed to obtain from George III (1738–1820) a yearly pension (sum of money) for Rousseau. But Rousseau, falsely believing Hume to be in league with his Parisian and Genevan enemies, not only refused the pension but also openly broke with the philosopher.

Rousseau returned to France in June 1767 under the protection of the Prince de Conti. Wandering from place to place, he at last settled in 1770 in Paris. There he made a living, as he often had in the past, by copying music. By December 1770 the Confessions, upon which he had been working since 1766, was completed, and he gave readings from this work at various private homes. His last work, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, begun in 1776 and unfinished at his death, records how Rousseau, an outcast from society, recaptured "serenity, tranquility, peace, even happiness."

In May 1778 Rousseau accepted Marquis de Giradin's hospitality at Ermenonville near Paris. There, with Thérèse at his bedside, he died on July 2, 1778, probably from uremia, a severe kidney disease. Rousseau was buried on the Île des Peupliers at Ermenonville. In October 1794 his remains were transferred to the Panthéon in Paris. Thérèse, surviving him by twenty-two years, died in 1801 at the age of eighty.

STEPHEN KING

Each life makes its own imitation of immortality

Writer. Born Stephen Edwin King on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine. He graduated from his state university and continued to live in Maine, at first supporting himself with odd jobs while establishing his writing career. The success of his first horror novel, Carrie (1974), enabled him to publish earlier work under the pseudonym Richard Bachman (1977–84), a ploy which disguised the true extent of his prolific output of novels, short stories, and screenplays, until the ruse became public knowledge and he abandoned it.

Stephen King's name became synonymous with best-selling novels blending horror, fantasy, and science fiction into a consistently scary mix. His books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and include Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (1977), The Dead Zone (1979), Misery (1987), Gerald's Game (1992), and Cell (2006). He has also written collections of short stories, including Hearts in Atlantis (1999). Several were made into successful films, and he himself tried his hand at film directing.

King and his novelist wife live in Bangor, Maine. They have three children: Naomi Rachel, a reverend; Joseph Hillstrom, who writes under the pen name Joe Hill and is a lauded horror-fiction writer in his own right; and Owen Phillip, whose first collection of stories was published in 2005.

JOEL OSTEEN

A good thing to remember is somebody's got it a lot worse than we do

Born Joel Scott Osteen, March 5, 1963, in Houston, Texas; son of John (a minister) and Dodie (a church official; maiden name, Pilgrim) Osteen; married Victoria Iloff, 1987; children: Jonathan; Alexandra. Education: Attended Oral Roberts University, c. 1981–82.

Produced and directed broadcasts for Lakewood Church, 1982–99; became senior pastor of Lakewood Church, 1999; host of the Joel Osteen show.

By October of 2005, Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential had spent a full year on the New York Times list of bestselling hardcover advice books. Osteen heads what has been called the largest church congregation in the United States, the 30,000-member Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas. Osteen's book is a distillation of his message from the pulpit, encouraging personal fulfillment through prayer and positive thinking. "With a blend of Christian morality and motivational cheerleading—and a blinding grin that has earned him the nickname Smiling Preacher— he's forged a connection with a racially mixed, economically diverse following that unites CEOs and former addicts," wrote People 's Susan Schindehette of Osteen's appeal.

Osteen's father, John, founded Lakewood Church back in 1959. The son of a Texas cotton farmer, John Osteen was a Southern Baptist minister before his faith took on a more charismatic turn in the late 1950s. He founded his own nondenominational church in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Houston, and over the next four decades shepherded it into a dynamic, thriving congregation. The senior Osteen's feel-good message, in which he exhorted churchgoers to have deep faith, and the blessings of the material world—good health, prosperity, and a solid family unit—would be theirs, caught on with Houstonians, and the church had grown to 5,000 members by 1979.

Osteen, born in 1963, was one of six children in their own family unit, which included one son from his father's first marriage. He did not seem to initially inherit his father 's zeal and ease before crowds, for at his suburban Houston high school Osteen was shy and did not even attend his senior prom, though he excelled in sports. He went on to Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, the largest Christian charismatic university in the world, but returned home after a year and suggested to his parents that he set up a television ministry for Lakewood Church. His father, however, was wary of the growing number of televangelists on the air at the time—ministers like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, who used the electronic medium to solicit donations—and okayed the new venture only with the stipulation that Lakewood would never use its media pulpit to appeal for contributions.

For the next 15 years Osteen directed and produced the weekly Sunday service at Lakewood, which aired on a local Houston station, and later on the Family Channel, a cable network. He traveled with his father, even as far as India, to assist in the church's missionary and outreach work, but scrupulously avoided a more active role. Occasionally, his father asked if he would like to deliver a sermon or speak during the church services—his mother Dodie and sister Lisa regularly did so—but he declined the invitation. But by early 1999, John Osteen's health was deteriorating, and he felt increasingly taxed by heart and kidney problems one week. He asked his son to deliver the Sunday sermon, and Osteen once again refused—but then called back a few minutes later and told his father that he would do it.

Nervous and wearing a pair of his father's shoes for emotional support, Osteen spoke that day before a crowd of 6,000, and the churchgoers responded well to his easygoing, affable style. Eleven days later, his father died of a heart attack, and Osteen was named to succeed him as pastor of the church. Lakewood's attendance numbers began to grow almost immediately, thanks to Osteen's blend of his father's self-improvement-through-faith message, tempered with anecdotes from his life and times. In one early sermon, he discussed the hardships of modern marriage, and urged wives to consider lingerie as a way to strengthen their unions. Lakewood also began using more music in the services, and congregants were encouraged to let the spirit move them if they so chose when the country-gospel ensemble began playing.

Among traditional Protestant faiths, Osteen's sermons were more inspirational—urging churchgoers to have faith that a higher power was in charge— than hectoring them about their possible shortcomings as Christians. He rarely discussed biblical scripture at any length, as standard sermons did. "We need doctrine, but I think the average person is not looking for doctrine," Osteen explained in an interview with William Martin for Texas Monthly. "They are looking to ask, ' How do I let go of the past?' 'How do I have a better marriage?'"

Over the next five years, Osteen's church swelled exponentially in number, outgrowing the large facility his father had built back in 1987. Perhaps even more impressive was the diversity of its congregation, which drew from various socio-economic backgrounds and races. Some of the popularity stemmed from the connection it offered—though it was large in number, the church ran various smaller groups and ministries in which its members could interact. There were ministries for teens, singles, and seniors, and support groups for various problems, including marital infidelity. It even offered free financial counseling services.

Osteen's Sunday sermons were broadcast weekly on religious channels such as TBN, and showed up on cable channels that included ABC Family, USA, and BET. Osteen also had his own show, Joel Osteen, and began touring U.S. cities in one-night speaking engagements that drew fans to arenas. Asked about why his message and ideas seemed to resonate with his Houston congregation and ardent cross-country television audience, he theorized that his pastoral mission struck a chord with the average American. "There's so much negativity pulling people down," he told Carolyn Kleiner Butler in U.S. News & World Report, "that I think they respond when you say, 'You know what: God's not mad at you; He's on your side, He's got a good plan for your life, and when we obey what He wants us to do, we're going to prosper.'"

Osteen's appealing message led to the book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, which was published by Warner Faith—a subsidiary of the immense Time-Warner media empire—in October of 2004. It rapidly advanced up the New York Times best-seller list in November, and earned the impressive distinction of becoming the fastest-selling nonfiction book in publishing history. At one point, it even outpaced sales of his nearest competitor, Rick Warren, a pastor from Lake Forest, California, whose 2002 book, The Purpose-Driven Life, also racked up extraordinary sales figures. Osteen's book, like Warren's, was usually slotted into the self-help section of bookstores. Butler, of U.S. News & World Report, asked Osteen if he objected to being put alongside pop-psychology tomes rather than among more contemplative religious writings. "I wouldn't have necessarily put it in that category by choice," he responded, "but it doesn't bother me because it does, it's there to help you live a better life, to live by God's principles, so it doesn't bother me at all."

In 2005, Osteen's Lakewood Church moved into a new local meeting-house, the Compaq Center, which was the former home arena of the Houston Rockets. His organization negotiated a rather tough sale with municipal authorities, beating out an affluent real-estate developer determined to build on the site, and then went on to spend more than $90 million to renovate it into a 16,000-seat church.

Those funds came from the well-managed operation that Osteen oversees, in which family members and trusted cohorts play leading roles. Even Osteen's brother, a surgeon, gave up his practice and works for Lakewood Church. Their mother, Dodie, still speaks at every Sunday service, and Osteen is nearly always seen with his wife, Victoria, by his side, a statuesque blond with similarly telegenic good looks. The two married in 1987, two years after Osteen met her when he stopped by the jewelry store her father owned. Their two young children, Alexandra and Jonathan, also take an active role in Sunday services.

Lakewood Church belongs to a growing category dubbed the megachurch—Protestant, usually evangelical or charismatic religious groups with 2,000-plus members. At 30,000 members, Osteen's is the largest of this new breed of the American religious experience, and likely the most lucrative, too. Its annual revenues are estimated at $60 million, but concrete numbers are not readily disclosed, since it is technically a family run church. Under U.S. law, churches are tax-exempt, but still have to submit some data to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Family-run churches like Lakewood, however, are excused from such scrutiny.

Osteen lives in the posh Tanglewood section of Houston, a prosperous outcome that owes much to his former second career before he took over his father's church, in which he bought and renovated rental properties. At Lakewood, much of his work week is spent writing and practicing his Sunday sermon, while other Lakewood ministers handle the bulk of the other pastoral duties—weddings, funerals, and other engagements. He is sometimes termed the likely successor to the Reverend Billy Graham, whose successful ministry—one of the first to use television—made him a figure of immense renown and respect in the United States and abroad.

Osteen is hesitant to involve himself in politics, and avoids taking a stance on issues like gay marriage and reproductive rights. He did run into trouble after a June of 2005 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live to promote Your Best Life Now. King asked Osteen about his thoughts on other faiths that do not consider Christ as the savior, particularly Judaism and Islam, and did he think that those believers would reach heaven. Osteen responded considerately, noting that he had traveled to India with his father, and met many different people who impressed him with their faith. As Martin related in the Texas Monthly article, that "humane, large-spirited response—quite similar to comments Billy Graham has made on occasion—apparently brought a flood of critical calls, letters, and e-mails to the Lakewood office, prompting Joel to issue an abject apology on his Web site, asserting that he believes 'Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.'"

Despite his popularity, Osteen is sometimes criticized by mainstream Protestant scholars for not condemning materialism more ardently, and perhaps even encouraging it. "Osteen is an easy theological target," asserted Jason Byassee in Christian Century. "He merits attention mostly as an unreflective exemplar of temptations all ministers face—to translate the charged political and theological language of the scriptures into a vague religiosity, or into more easily digestible categories of self-help and self-improvement." Byassee discussed Osteen's place in a nondenominational group of American churches sometimes called "Word of Faith," but harsher critics call it Christianity Lite. Osteen defended his sermons and writings against the charges of an over-emphasis on the material world, telling Martin in the Texas Monthly interview, "I never knew it was such a bad thing to be a Word of Faith preacher, but I never preach that whatever you say, you can get—'I want five Cadillacs.' 'I'm going to be the president of this company.' I never believed that kind of stuff."

Even Byassee conceded that Osteen's message was not that drastically at odds with the underpinning philosophies of Western civilization itself. "In some ways Osteen echoes an ancient and venerable Christian tradition that borrows from Aristotle," the Christian Century writer noted, "in calling itself 'eudaemonistic.' That is, Christianity offers the happiest life possible." It was an idea that Osteen regularly expounded in his Sunday sermons, and in his increasingly frequent media interviews. "Prosperity is not just money," he reminded Martin in the Texas Monthlyarticle. "It's a healthy relationship with your wife, with your kids; it's a healthy body. We need to get away from the dollar sign on prosperity."

RICHARD BACH

Happiness is the reward we get for living to the highest right we know

Richard Bach, a pilot and aviation writer, achieved success as a new age author with the publication of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a novel that Bach maintains was the result of two separate visionary experiences over a period of eight years. Bach's simple allegory with spiritual and philosophical overtones received little critical recognition but captured the mood of the 1970s, becoming popular with a wide range of readers, from members of the drug culture to mainstream Christian denominations.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970) deals with the new age theme of transformation. It is the story of a spirited bird who by trial and error learns to fly for grace and speed, not merely for food and survival. When he returns to his flock with the message that they can become creatures of excellence, he is banished for his irresponsibility. He flies alone until he meets two radiant gulls who teach him to achieve perfect flight by transcending the limits of time and space. Jonathan returns to the flock, gathering disciples to spread the idea of perfection. With a small edition of only 7,500 copies and minimal promotion, the book's popularity spread by word of mouth, and within two years sold over one million copies, heading the New York Times Bestseller List for ten months. In 1973 a Paramount film version, with real seagulls trained by Ray Berwick and music by Neil Diamond, opened to mostly negative reviews.

Bach has been inundated with questions about the book's underlying metaphysical philosophy. Ray Bradbury called it "a great Rorschach test that you read your own mystical principles into." Buddhists felt that the story of the seagull, progressing through different stages of being in his quest for perfect flight, epitomized the spirit of Buddhism, while some Catholic priests interpreted the book as an example of the sin of pride. Many have turned to the novel for inspiration, and passages have been used for important occasions such as weddings, funerals, and graduations. Bach continues to insist that he merely recorded the book from his visions and is not the author. He emphasizes that his usual writing style is more descriptive and ornate and that he personally disapproves of Jonathan's decision to return to his flock.

A direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard David Bach was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Roland Bach, a former United States Army Chaplain, and Ruth (Shaw) Bach. While attending Long Beach State College in California, he took flying lessons, igniting his lifelong passion for aviation. From 1956-1959 he served in the United States Air Force and earned his pilot wings. In the 1960s he directed the Antique Airplane Association and also worked as a charter pilot, flight instructor, and barnstormer in the Midwest, where he offered plane rides for three dollars a person. During this period, he worked as a free-lance writer, selling articles to Flying, Soaring, Air Facts, and other magazines. He also wrote three books about flying which were Stranger to the Ground(1963), Biplane (1966), and Nothing by Chance (1969).

Since Jonathan Livingston Seagull, he has continued to share his philosophies on life, relationships, and reincarnation in six different books. Gift of Wings (1974) is a collection of inspirational essays, most with some connection to flying. The 1977 book Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, which received an American Book Award nomination in 1980, deals with Bach's encounter with Shimode, a self-proclaimed Messiah. There's No Such Place as Far Away (1979) tells the story of a child who learns about the meaning of life from an encounter with a hummingbird, owl, eagle, hawk, and seagull on the way to a birthday party. The autobiographical book The Bridge Across Forever (1984) discusses the need to find a soul mate and describes Bach's real-life relationship with actress Leslie Parrish, whom he married in 1977.One (1988) and Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit(1995) use flashbacks to express Bach's philosophies. In One,Bach and his wife Leslie fly from Los Angeles to Santa Monica and find themselves traveling through time, discovering the effects of their past decisions both on themselves and others. In Running from Safety, Bach is transformed into a nine-year-old boy named Dickie, a representation of his inner child. In 1998, Bach opened a new channel of communication with his followers through his own internet web site where he shares his thoughts and answers questions.

JOSEPH HELLER

Rise above principle and do what's right

Joseph Heller was a popular and respected writer whose first and best-known novel, Catch-22 (1961), was considered a classic piece of literature in the second half of the twentieth century.

Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn, New York, to first generation Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father, a bakery-truck driver, died after a surgical operation when Heller was only five years old. Many critics believe that Heller developed the dark, wisecracking humor that marked his writing style while growing up near Coney Island, a famous amusement park in Brooklyn. Heller recalled little childhood influence in the literary world except for The Illiad by Homer, an eighth-century B.C.E. poet.

After graduating from high school in 1941, Heller worked briefly in an insurance office, and in 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps after America entered World War II (1939–45; a war in which France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union fought against Germany, Italy, and Japan). Two years later he was sent to Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where he flew sixty combat missions as a fighter pilot, earning an Air Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation. It is generally agreed that Heller's war years in the Mediterranean had only a minimal impact on the creation of Catch-22.

After Heller left the military in 1945, he married Shirley Held and began his college education. He obtained a bachelor's degree in English from New York University, a master's degree from Columbia University, and attended Oxford University as a Fulbright Scholar for a year before becoming an English instructor at Pennsylvania State University.

Two years later Heller began working as an advertising copywriter, securing positions at such magazines as Time, Look, and McCall's from 1952 to 1961. During this time Heller was also writing short stories and scripts for film and television, as well as working on Catch-22. After the success of Catch-22, Heller quit his job at McCall's and concentrated exclusively on writing fiction and plays.

Catch-22 concerns a World War II fighter pilot named Yossarian who believes his foolish, ambitious, mean-spirited commanding officers are more dangerous than the enemy. In order to avoid flying more missions, Yossarian retreats to a hospital with a mysterious liver complaint, wrecks his plane, and tries to get himself declared insane. Variously defined throughout the novel, "Catch-22" refers to the ways in which officials in command control the people who work for them.

"I never thought of Catch-22 as a comic novel," Heller says in the New York Times. "[But] … I wanted the reader to be amused, and … I wanted him to be ashamed that he was amused. My literary bent … is more toward the morbid [gruesome] and the tragic. Great carnage [death] is taking place and my idea was to use humor to make ridiculous the things that are irrational and very terrible."

While Heller's place in twentieth-century letters is secured with Catch-22, he is also highly regarded for his other works, which present a comic vision of modern society with serious moral connections. A major theme throughout his writing is the conflict that occurs when individuals interact with such powerful institutions as corporations, the military, and the government.

Heller's second novel, Something Happened, centers on Bob Slocum, a middle-aged businessman who has a large, successful company but feels emotionally empty. While initial reviews of Something Happened were mixed, more recent criticism has often deemed this novel superior to and more sophisticated than Catch-22.

Good as Gold (1979) marks Heller's first fictional use of his Jewish heritage and childhood experiences in Coney Island. In Picture This (1988), Heller utilizes Rembrandt's painting "Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer" to draw parallels between ancient Greece, seventeenth-century Holland, and contemporary America.

In the early 1980s Heller was stricken with a nerve disease, Guillain-Barre syndrome, that left him paralyzed for several months. Though the author became too weak to move and almost too weak to breathe on his own, he eventually regained his strength and recovered from the often fatal disorder. After completing God Knows,Heller began writing his first nonfiction book, No Laughing Matter, with Speed Vogel, a friend who helped him considerably during his illness.

Heller died of a heart attack on December 12, 1999, at his East Hampton, New York, home. After Heller's death, Simon & Schuster published Heller's final work, A Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, a collection of memoirs and essays by one of the world's most influential writers of the twentieth century.