Book Reviewed: Poor Richard's Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father by Nancy Stuart

A struggle with prudence and passion There are little-known facts about the life of Benjamin Franklin that has been neglected by historians. Some of them would reveal the voices of women he loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between prudence and passion. Deborah Read Franklin was his common-law wife over forty-four years, and in this book, the author assesses their relationship in the first few chapters and finds that she was not an illiterate woman as many historians thought but equaled the Founding Father in many ways. In fact, she was like a modern-day feminist, who raised two of his children and ran family business and protected his interest during his long absences from their home in Philadelphia, away in Paris and London. This book illustrates that she was an independent woman who successfully managed his finances, even though Ben Franklin's Autobiography mentions her briefly and with little feelings expressed. The author also addresses Ben Franklin’s humor, resiliency, intelligence, and his faith. This book relies on the selections from Claude-Anne Lopez’s research on his life that includes nearly thirty thousand documents assembled at Yale University. They include his years in Paris and his numerous liaisons & sexual affairs with French aristocratic women. These women played an important social and possibly political role in Benjamin Franklin's life during the Revolutionary War. In fact, his associations with French helped to bring the strong support for American cause during the revolution. This book also briefly includes his romances with Madame Brillon, the beautiful French musician, the witty Madame Helvetius, Margaret Stevenson, the widowed landlady in London and a young American named Catherine Ray. Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly gout, which worsened as he aged. Despite his health problems he had cravings for sexual intimacies with ladies. Ben Franklin believed that organized religion was necessary to keep men good to their fellow men, but he rarely attended religious services himself. But his parents were Puritans, and the family attended the Old South Church, a liberal Puritan congregation in Boston. He once wrote the charismatic preacher George Whitfield, "That Being who gave me existence ... and has been continually showering his favors upon me ... can I doubt that he loves me? And if he loves me, can I doubt that he will go on to take care of me, not only here, but hereafter?" In 1758, Ben Franklin advocated the opening of a school for the education of black slaves in Philadelphia, and later became notable abolitionist denouncing the practice of slavery leading to the establishment of Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1774. There are two earlier books on Ben Franklin’s female friends, one entitled “Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris” by Claude-Anne Lopez, and later “The Private Franklin: The Man and His Family, by Claude-Anne Lopez and Eugenia W. Herbert. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin project is available at the Yale University, and at the Library of Congress and the National Archives websites. The author’s efforts to illustrate Deborah Read was an independent woman who contributed to the success of Ben Franklin despite his infidelity. She narrates the story wonderfully and feels great to read especially the first few chapters. The readers get a close look at the life of Deborah in the 18th century Philadelphia. With limited rights for a woman those days, her life demonstrates that you can still be good wife, good mother, a good friend, and a great business partner, and can lead your life that best suits you.