Thursday, February 20, 2014

Readalikes: If you enjoyed February's selection . . .

If you enjoyed Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore, then you might like this wide variety of titles suggested by our discussion group members: Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick for an idea of what Jane's life was like during the siege of Boston; Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff for an understanding of the issues that divided Ben Franklin and his son William, Patriot and Loyalist, during the Revolutionary War; George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger for a portrait of other citizens who helped to shape the emerging nation, who might have faded out of the historical record if not for the work of historians studying the lives of ordinary people; The Invention of Wings: A Novel by Sue Monk Kidd about Charleston's Grimke sisters and their enslaved handmaid that brings to life the restrictions on the lives and aspirations of women and enslaved Africans even a century after the Revolution; Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn for an understanding of how issues like gender and literacy affect women's lives today; and Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff for another example of a biography written with very little source material to draw from that builds a portrait of a woman by coloring in her historical and cultural background.

Monday, February 10, 2014

February Not Fiction Book Discussions

In Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore, Lepore reminds us that Benjamin Franklin's autobiography serves as an "allegory about America: the story of a man as the story of a nation." Ben rose from poverty to become an educated, independent man of the world. One could argue that his gender was the essential element in his success. As a man, Ben had access to an education and to work that allowed him to continue his studies and to travel. His sister Jane, as a woman, did not have access to an education. She was expected to become a mother and a homemaker. Although Jane loved to read and learned to write, she did not leave an extensive written record of her life because, as a woman, she had little time to write, and, as a person of modest means, her few writings were not considered worth preserving. Jane did write a small book that recorded the major events of a mother's life, a Book of Ages that noted the births and deaths of her children and other family members. She also wrote years of letters to her brother recording her opinions about her life and times, but decades of these letters have been lost. Lepore suggests that Jane's life is also an allegory: "it explains what it means to write history not from what survives but from what is lost."

Jane Franklin's story helps us to understand the historical record in a new light. How we understand our nation's history depends upon whose history we are able to read and remember. And because that written and preserved history is largely that of our founding fathers, we could easily lose sight of the fact that our founding mothers, ordinary women like Jane Franklin, also helped to shape our values and traditions.

Because Jane did not leave many written remains, Lepore has created what New York Times critic Dwight Garner calls "an elegant write-around." Is she successful in bringing Jane and her times to life? Do you think, given other historical circumstances, Jane Franklin could have been as famous as her brother? How have women's lives and the value we place upon them changed since Jane's times? How would America's history be different if the lives and opinions of women like Jane had been considered valuable all along?

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, February 20, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.