Month: August 2026

Théodore Chassériau at age 15 became the youngest painter ever exhibited in the Louvre. He was a Dominican-born French Romantic painter known for portraits, historical and religious paintings, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria. A prolific draftsman, he made a set of prints illustrating Shakespeare’s “Othello” and his 1834 portrait of Prosper Marilhat was hung in the world-famous museum. Driven to exhaustion while completing a series of commissions, he died at age 37. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

A portrait created at age 15 made Chasseriau the youngest painter exhibited in the Louvre

Woodruff Home for the Aged, where aging with dignity battles corporate greed

Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous at age 40. An Army veteran and businessman who struggled with depression and alcohol, he crashed five years after the 1929 stock market and checked into a hospital, where he overcame drinking through the spiritual principles propounded by the Oxford Group. Several years later, tempted to drink again, he contacted a fellow patient, surgeon Robert Smith. Their five-hour conversation led them to found AA in 1935. After a Saturday Evening Post article about AA in 1941, the organization took off in popularity. Today, AA has more than 2 million members worldwide. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous helped himself, which now helps 2 million members worldwide

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die