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Benjamin Franklin and Women. Edited by Larry E. Tise. (University Park: Penn State University Press. 2000. Pp. xxxi, 184. $50.00 cloth; $18.95 paper.)
There exists no simple way to describe Benjamin Franklin's fascination with the opposite sex. Opaque and transparent, honest and deceptive, quintessentially public and resolutely private, Franklin is a man of so many personalities that sorting them out has long been a major industry among early American scholars. Larry E. Tise, a widely published historian and former director of the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, brings to the effort seven new contributions. Entitled-rather possessively-"Franklin's Women," part one of the book focuses on Franklin's relationships with particular women. Part two sheds light on Franklin in the broader context of socially defined roles for women. Together, the essays provide a nuanced view of Benjamin Franklin and the gendered world in which he lived.
The least sympathetic interpretations offered in Benjamin Franklin and Women address Franklin's relationships with his wife Deborah and daughter Sarah (Sally). Sheila Skemp and Tise view the Franklin family as borderline dysfunctional. Skemp, for example, asserts that Franklin's autobiography disparages Deborah. When Franklin explains how-with puffy rolls stuffed in the pockets of his well-worn coat-he notices his future wife regarding him with amusement from the doorway of her parents' house, Skemp, ignoring the implied intimacy of the moment, contends that Franklin related the story in a way that "denigrates" Deborah. Skemp's interpretation stamps the incident with post-modern disapproval. It is more likely, however, that Franklin shared the...