When Esquire magazine turned 50 last year, it released a much-ballyhooed golden anniversary number devoted to "50 Who Made the Difference" over the past half century. Celebrity writers such as Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, and Tom Wolfe were enlisted to profile "American Originals" as diverse as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Muhammad Ali. Despite their differ- ences, nearly all of Esquire's elect had one thing in common: They were themselves celebrities, household names.
One exception-a...