Category: Benjamin Franklin

How to Change the Minds of Those You Disagree With

Ah, it’s January once again! That means it’s also a time for fresh starts and new goals. One of my goals in 2022 is to finally read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.” Although I’ve perused large portions of it in the past, reading it straight through has been on my to-do list for some time….


Benjamin Franklin and the Virtuous Road to Success

With rates of depression and anxiety steadily increasing in the COVID-19 era, self-help is big business. Internet gurus promise peace of mind, financial freedom, and happiness if we just click the link, take the course, or watch a video. Most are scams, some have merit, but all come with a catch—mostly financial. A distressed population…


Benjamin Franklin: American Philosophe

The Enlightenment saw the emergence of the “philosophes” in Europe—intellectuals who were unafraid to publicly challenge … well, just about everything. But Britain’s American colonies weren’t without their own philosophers. The most famous was certainly Benjamin Franklin, the grandson of an indentured servant and the son of a candlemaker. Unlike many of Europe’s thinkers, however,…


Poetry, Almanacks, and Spelling Bees

Upon seceding from Britain, her thirteen former colonies immediately began to lay the foundations of an independent humanities tradition. One could argue, of course, that the process of creating a uniquely “American” literature was already well underway long before the Revolution even began—with William Bradford’s “History of Plymouth Plantation,” for example, or the poetry of…