| Introduction |
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10 | (4) |
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C. 346 BC The Spartans respond to a letter from Philip II of Macedon |
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14 | (2) |
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44 BC Caesar's murderers correspond to work out their next move |
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16 | (2) |
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C. 50 AD St. Paul guides the principles of Christianity through his letters |
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18 | (2) |
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C. 100 AD Tablets reveal details of life at the edge of the Roman Empire |
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20 | (2) |
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C. 107 AD Pliny the Younger describes the eruption at Pompeii to Tacitus |
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22 | (2) |
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C. 450 AD Romano Britons plead for help from Rome as the empire fails |
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24 | (2) |
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1215 English barons try to flex their legal muscle after Magna Carta |
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26 | (4) |
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1429 Joan of Arc tells Henry VI she has God on her side |
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28 | (2) |
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C. 1480 Leonardo da Vinci sets out his skills to the Duke of Milan |
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30 | (2) |
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1485 Henry VII writes to English nobles asking for their support |
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32 | (2) |
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1493 Columbus explains his discoveries to the king of Spain |
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34 | (2) |
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1521 Martin Luther tells his friend, "Let your sins be strong" |
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36 | (2) |
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1528 Henry VIII writes a love letter to Anne Boleyn |
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38 | (2) |
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1542 De Ias Casas exposes Spain's atrocities in the New World |
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40 | (2) |
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1554 Elizabeth I writes to Bloody Mary, begging for her life |
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42 | (2) |
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1586 Babington's plot is revealed in coded letters to Mary, Queen of Scots |
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44 | (2) |
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1588 Philip II of Spain insists the Armada press on and attack England |
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46 | (2) |
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1605 Lord Monteagle gets a carefully worded warning |
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48 | (2) |
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1610 Galileo explains the first sighting of the moons of Jupiter |
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50 | (2) |
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1660 Charles II reassures Parliament that they will be in control |
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52 | (2) |
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1688 The English nobility make Prince William of Orange an offer |
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54 | (2) |
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1773 Ben Franklin's stolen mail reveals a political scandal |
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56 | (2) |
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1776 Abigail Adams tells husband John to "Remember the Ladies" |
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58 | (2) |
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1777 George Washington employs his first spy in the Revolutionary War |
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60 | (2) |
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1787 Jefferson advises his nephew to question the existence of God |
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62 | (2) |
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1791 Mozart writes to his wife as he struggles to finish Requiem |
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64 | (2) |
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1791 Maria Reynolds tells Alexander Hamilton her husband has found out |
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66 | (2) |
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1793 Thomas Jefferson wants a French botanist to explore the northwest |
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68 | (2) |
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1793 After murdering Marat in his bath, Charlotte Corday writes in despair |
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70 | (2) |
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1805 On the eve of battle, Lord Nelson sends a message to his fleet |
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72 | (2) |
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1812 Napoleon informs Alexander I that France and Russia are at war |
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74 | (2) |
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1830 As machines replace farm labor, Captain Swing issues a threat |
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76 | (2) |
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1831 Charles Darwin gets an offer to become the naturalist on a surveying ship |
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78 | (2) |
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1840 The first postage stamp transforms the sending of letters |
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80 | (2) |
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1844 Friedrich "Fred" Engels begins a lifelong correspondence with Karl "Moor" Marx |
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82 | (2) |
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1845 Baudelaire writes a suicide letter to his mistress and lives |
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84 | (2) |
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1861 Major Robert Anderson reports he has surrendered Fort Sumter |
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86 | (2) |
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1861 On the eve of battle, Sullivan Ballou writes to his wife, Sarah |
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88 | (2) |
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1862 Abraham Lincoln sends General McClellan an ultimatum |
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90 | (2) |
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1862 Abraham Lincoln spells out his Civil War priorities to Horace Greeley |
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92 | (2) |
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1863 William Banting wants the world to know how he lost weight |
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94 | (2) |
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1864 General Sherman reminds the citizens of Atlanta that war is hell |
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96 | (2) |
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1880 Vincent van Gogh writes an emotional letter to his brother, Theo |
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98 | (2) |
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1888 A Chicago Methodist training school launches a moneymaker |
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100 | (2) |
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1890 George Washington Williams sends a furious open letter to King Leopold II of Belgium |
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102 | (2) |
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1892 Alexander Graham Bell writes to Helen Keller's teacher Anne Sullivan |
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104 | (2) |
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1893 Beatrix Potter illustrates a letter to cheer up five-year-old Noel Moore |
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106 | (2) |
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1894 Pierre Curie sends Maria a letter begging her to come back and study |
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108 | (2) |
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1897 Oscar Wilde writes a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas from Reading Gaol |
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110 | (2) |
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1898 Writer Emile Zola accuses the French army of an anti-Semitic conspiracy |
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112 | (2) |
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1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright send news to their father, Bishop Milton Wright |
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114 | (2) |
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1907 John Muir lobbies Teddy Roosevelt about incursions into Yosemite |
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116 | (2) |
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1909 Lewis Wickes Hine reports to the National Child Labor Committee |
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118 | (2) |
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1912 Captain Scott: "We have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen" |
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120 | (2) |
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1912 The very final letter from the Titanic that was never sent |
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122 | (2) |
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1917 Zimmermann offers Mexico the return ofTexas.Arizona, and New Mexico |
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124 | (2) |
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1917 Lord Stamfordham suggests a new name for the British royal family |
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126 | (2) |
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1917 Siegfried Sassoon sends an open letter tone Times |
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128 | (2) |
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1919 Adolf Hitler's first anti-Semitic writing, a letter sent to Adolf Gemlich |
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130 | (2) |
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1935 Master spy Guy Burgess gets a reference to join the BBC |
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132 | (2) |
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1939 Eleanor Roosevelt takes a stand against the Daughters of the American Revolution |
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134 | (2) |
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1939 Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard warn President Franklin D. Roosevelt |
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136 | (2) |
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1939 Mussolini congratulates Hitler on his pact with Russia |
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138 | (2) |
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1940 Winston Churchill pens a blunt response to his private secretary |
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140 | (2) |
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1941 Roosevelt sends Churchill the poem that moved Abraham Lincoln |
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142 | (2) |
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1941 Virginia Woolf writes a final letter to husband Leonard |
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144 | (2) |
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1941 Winston Churchill gets an urgent request from the codebreakers |
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146 | (2) |
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1941 Telegram reports that Pearl Harbor is under attack |
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148 | (2) |
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1943 General Nye sends General Alexander a misleading letter by submarine |
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150 | (2) |
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1943 Oppenheimer gets the go-ahead to research an atomic bomb |
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152 | (2) |
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1943 J. Edgar Hoover receives "The Anonymous Letter" |
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154 | (2) |
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1943 The shipwrecked JFK sends a vital message with two Solomon Islanders |
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156 | (2) |
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1948 Marshal Tito warns Stalin to stop sending assassination squads |
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158 | (2) |
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1952 Lillian Hellman sends a letter and a message to Senator McCarthy |
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160 | (2) |
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1953 William Borden identifies J. Robert Oppenheimer as a Soviet spy |
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162 | (2) |
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1958 Jackie Robinson tells Eisenhower his people are tired of waiting |
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164 | (2) |
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1960 Wallace Stegner composes a paean to the American wilderness |
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166 | (2) |
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1961 Nelson Mandela sends the South African prime minister an ultimatum |
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168 | (2) |
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1962 Decca sends a rejection letter to Beatles manager Brian Epstein |
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170 | (2) |
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1962 On the brink of war, Khrushchev sends a conciliatory letter to Kennedy |
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172 | (2) |
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1962 Kennedy replies to Khrushchev as tensions ease |
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174 | (2) |
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1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. sends a letter from Birmingham City Jail |
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176 | (2) |
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1963 Profumo's resignation puts an end to British politics' biggest sex scandal |
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178 | (2) |
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1965 Che Guevara tells Fidel Castro he wants to continue the fight |
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180 | (2) |
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1973 James McCord writes to Judge John Sirica after the Watergate trial |
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182 | (2) |
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1976 Ronald Wayne sells his 10 percent share in Apple for $800 |
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184 | (2) |
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1976 Bill Gates writes an open letter to computer hobbyists who are ripping off his software |
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186 | (2) |
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1991 Michael Schumacher crosses out "the" and becomes World Champion |
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188 | (2) |
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1999 Boris Yeltsin admits running Russia was tougher than he expected |
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190 | (2) |
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2001 Sherron Watkins sends a letter criticizing Enron's dubious accounting |
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192 | (2) |
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2003 Dr. David Kelly admits he was the source for critical BBC report |
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194 | (2) |
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2005 Bobby Henderson asks Kansas to acknowledge the Spaghetti Monster |
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196 | (2) |
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2010 Chelsea Manning writes to Wikileaks with a data dump |
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198 | (2) |
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2010 Astronauts lament America's lack of a space delivery system |
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200 | (2) |
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2013 Pussy Riot singer trades philosophies with Slavoj Zizek |
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202 | (2) |
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2013 Edward Snowden has a shocking revelation for the German press |
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204 | (2) |
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2013 The whistleblowers appeal to future whistleblowers |
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206 | (2) |
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2017 Letters---the next investment boom to follow art? |
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208 | (2) |
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2018 Women in the entertainment industry demand change |
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210 | (2) |
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2019 Greta Thunberg reads a letter to the Indian prime minister |
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212 | (2) |
| Addendum: Helen Keller writes to Alexander Graham Bell |
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214 | (7) |
| Index |
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221 | |
