Jill Lepore on the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin




Midday on WNYC show

Summary: Benjamin Franklin, who wrote more letters to his sister than he wrote to anyone else, was the original American self-made man; his sister spent her life caring for her 12 children. Historian Jill Lepore shows that Benjamin Franklin’s youngest sister was, like her brother, a passionate reader, a gifted writer, and an astonishingly shrewd political commentator. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin brings Jane Franklin to life in a way that illuminates not only one woman but an entire world.