Benjamin Franklin’s French Connection: Review of Apple TV’s ‘Franklin’ Series

‘Franklin is endlessly, endlessly interesting. He is the only Founding Father who evidently had a sense of humor, who was evidently human, who evidently had a sex life.” No, this is not a quip from a high school student who has read too few books and watched too many YouTube videos. It is a comment made by the celebrated biographer Stacy Schiff that Ken Burns included in a two-part PBS series that aired three years ago.

Schiff is that rarity, a serious biographer who is also fun to read. But this comment strikes me as a throwaway line that Burns should have thrown away. As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches, Americans are recalling the uplifting words of that document. But given the carelessness now being displayed toward the nation’s past, we should also recall Franklin’s words on the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Asked what sort of government the convention had made, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

About the Author

Martha Bayles

Martha Bayles is the author of Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad. She teaches at Boston College and is working on a book about the importance of informal speech norms in the digital age.

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‘Franklin is endlessly, endlessly interesting. He is the only Founding Father who evidently had a sense of humor, who was evidently human, who evidently had a sex life.” No, this is not a quip from a high school student who has read too few books and watched too many YouTube videos. It is a comment made by the celebrated biographer Stacy Schiff that Ken Burns included in a two-part PBS series that aired three years ago.

Schiff is that rarity, a serious biographer who is also fun to read. But this comment strikes me as a throwaway line that Burns should have thrown away. As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches, Americans are recalling the uplifting words of that document. But given the carelessness now being displayed toward the nation’s past, we should also recall Franklin’s words on the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Asked what sort of government the convention had made, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

About the Author

Martha Bayles

Martha Bayles is the author of Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad. She teaches at Boston College and is working on a book about the importance of informal speech norms in the digital age.