Franklin and Bache: Envisioning the Enlightened Republic - Hardcover

"Smith's careful and thoughtful analysis of the relationship between Franklin and Bache sheds valuable light on the role of education and the fate of disinterested republicanism in the new nation."--History of Education Quarterly

"Well researched....Highly readable. It seems to me to be a model for intellectual biography."--American Journalism

"Jeffery Smith is a rare combination of superb writer, conscientious researcher, and perceptive historian. This new book has the potential of contributing significantly to our understanding of the development of Republican and Enlightenment ideology in the early republic."--Paul G. Boyer, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"This extensively researched and documented book is an intelligent addition to the literature on Franklin's moral philosophy as well as an excellent and long-needed biographic introduction to Bache."--Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

"Reviewing the education and development of Benjamin Franklin Bache in radical republican principle, Smith clearly illustrates this nation's ideological conflict in its formative years with a focus on connunication. The significance of the Aurora to Jeffersonian Republicans is incalculable, and it is amazing that scholars have not dealt with this before. Bache's newspaper, aimed at Washington and Adams, clearly has been underrated by historians of the past."--MaryAnn Yodelis Smith, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin Centers, Madison

"Bache at last has a biographer who places him and his journalism in context. Usually dismissed as a despicable extremist, the editor of the Aurora emerges here as a true democrat and heir to his grandfather."--John D. Stevens, University of Michigan

"This book is about the brief and tragic career of Benjamin Franklin's grandson and spiritual heir. It covers much new ground. Here, in the person of his grandson, we have Benjamin Franklin with the lid off. Smtih's account of American journalism, in its passionate early days, makes today's media seem tame."--Claude-Anne Lopez, Yale University

"[Smith is] a thoughtful and compelling writer....He provides insights into both men not found elsewwhere. He makes a major contribution in portraying the Jeffersonian journalism of the Federalist period as more than mere namecalling."--Journalism Quarterly