{"product_id":"poor-richards-women-nancy-rubin-stuart-9780807011300","title":"Poor Richard's Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"An engrossing look at the human side of Benjamin Franklin . . . Using a post-feminist lens that's critical of gender essentialism, Stuart rescues these women from obscurity . . . This is a terrific read: poignant, provocative, and probing.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Library Journal, Starred Review \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA vivid portrait of the women who loved, nurtured, and defended America's famous scientist and founding father. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEveryone knows Benjamin Franklin--the thrifty inventor-statesman of the Revolutionary era--but not about his love life. \u003ci\u003ePoor Richard's Women\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the long-neglected voices of the women Ben loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 44 years. Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWeaving detailed historical research with emotional intensity and personal testimony, Nancy Rubin Stuart traces Deborah's life and those of Ben's other romantic attachments through their personal correspondence. We are introduced to Margaret Stevenson, the widowed landlady who managed Ben's life in London; Catherine Ray, the 23-year-old New Englander with whom he traveled overnight and later exchanged passionate letters; Madame Brillon, the beautiful French musician who flirted shamelessly with him, and the witty Madame Helvetius, who befriended the \u003ci\u003ephilosophes\u003c\/i\u003e of pre-Revolutionary France and brought Ben to his knees. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat emerges from Stuart's pen is a colorful and poignant portrait of women in the age of revolution. Set two centuries before the rise of feminism, \u003ci\u003ePoor Richard's Women\u003c\/i\u003e depicts the feisty, often-forgotten women dear to Ben's heart who, despite obstacles, achieved an independence rarely enjoyed by their peers in that era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nancy Rubin Stuart\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0807011304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780807011300\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Beacon Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/15\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/08\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2021 pg. 13\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2022 pg. 77","brand":"Nancy Rubin Stuart","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44054973186303,"sku":"9780807011300","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_602e3f72-e919-4d37-89e3-f0f313474bcc.jpg?v=1685033052","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/poor-richards-women-nancy-rubin-stuart-9780807011300","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}