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Ben Franklin on Language: Simpler is Always Better
In the final months of his long life, a debilitated Benjamin Franklin still found the strength to fulminate against recent trends in the printing trade. He was particularly incensed by the elimination...
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Just who was Benjamin Franklin?
The challenge of locating the “real” Franklin is greatly complicated by the looming presence of his unfinished Autobiography, written in four distinct stages over two decades and never edited by its...
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Speaking of Benjamin Franklin …
The release of my new book, The Society for Useful Knowledge: How Benjamin Franklin and Friends Brought the Enlightenment to America, is set for June 11. I will be discussing my work, accompanied by...
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O Canada! Ben Franklin and the Founding of the Canadian Post
Canada has just issued a new stamp commemorating Benjamin Franklin, who in 1753 opened the first post office north of the modern border, in Halifax. Then deputy postmaster for Britain’s North American...
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July 5: Society for Useful Knowledge on NPR’s “Science Friday”
Tune in July 5 to hear me discuss Benjamin Franklin and The Society for Useful Knowledge on NPR’s national program “Science Friday.”Live broadcast is scheduled for 3:30-4:00 pm EDT but check local...
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Ben Franklin and his Society for Useful Knowledge on Book TV, July 21
C-SPAN’s Book TV will be airing my recent talk on The Society for Useful Knowledge: How Benjamin Franklin and Friends Brought the Enlightenment to America, recorded at Seattle’s Town Hall, at 8 pm...
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View C-SPAN’s broadcast of my talk on Society of Useful Knowledge
C-SPAN’s Book TV has broadcast a recording of my recent book talk, at Town Hall in Seattle. You can view the program here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/313976-1.
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Weekly Standard calls Society for Useful Knowledge “profoundly likeable new...
Patrick Allitt, professor of history at Emory University, reviews The Society for Useful Knowledge: How Benjamin Franklin and Friends Brought the Enlightenment to America in the Weekly Standard. Allit...
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Ben Franklin’s Social Networks, in Smithsonian Magazine
I recently profiled innovative Franklin scholar Caroline Winterer, who is using computers to map Ben Franklin’s extensive correspondence networks, in the December issue of Smithsonian Magazine. Her...
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Ben Franklin, Recorded Live at the Library of Congress
Here is a link to my discussion of The Society for Useful Knowledge at the Library of Congress, earlier in 2013. Please submit any questions or comments, via the comments function.
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