When i was reading books about this experience when i was going through his it was saintly women writing about saintly mothers. I knew i could write my book when this woman who hadnt seen my mother and i for 30 years, you are so funny together. We could be a comedy. I was saying with my dad the same thing. I totally lost it with this man i fought with my whole life. That is a nice opportunity. That is a particular thing gay friends and daughters could do really well. I think your book is very honest and very real and that always works. Thanks, mutual. We are inviting you to assigning. [applause] [inaudible conversations] booktv is on instagram. Followers for publishing news, schedule updates and behindthescenes pictures and videos. Instagram. Com booktv. Now i am pleased to introduce a nice arthur with his acclaimed new book the fever of 1721 the epidemic that revolutionized medicine and american politics. Stephen coss has a bachelors degree working as an Advertising Agency copywriter and wisconsin election official when not working on his handwriting. The fever of 1721 the epidemic that revolutionized medicine and american politics tells the story of the worst smallpox epidemic ever to strike boston, setting the stage for political change and scientific advancement including controversial but effective smallpox inoculation. The pittsburgh post called it in formidably told and the wall street journal said it was the deep account. Please join me in welcoming the fever of 1721 the epidemic that revolutionized medicine and american politics. I am wisconsin election official. They are having an election. I had to vote absentee. Dont know if that makes me a wisconsin election official but i would rather be here right now. That is a nonpartisan position. It is a fancy word for poll worker. It is kind of cool because i get to register to new voters so firsttime voters, naturalized citizens, pretty cool. I like it a lot all kidding aside. Hillary, thank you for that introduction. Thanks to harvard bookstore. This is my first time here but i have heard about this store. Everybody has heard about this store. It smells like a bookstore, looks like a bookstore should look. I am happy and proud to be one of the guests so thank you again. Thanks to booktv. I have ever been on booktv although i have watched it many many times. It is a real pleasure to be featured and of course i thank all of you for coming. This is my fourth live event. The first was in madison wisconsin, i got all my friends to go and my wifes friends and we went to chicago and in chicago i got all my inlaws to go. Judy has a very big family so she is one of seven or eight. I should know by now. She asked her family to go. On sunday i did an event in madison connecticut, another fine independent bookstore. Im from connecticut originally so i have my old friends dating back to high school, people i have not seen this century who i got to go there. And tonight i dont think i know any of you so that is very flattering. Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. When my sister learned that i was going to be presenting the book she gave me some advice, she said i suggest letting people know it is your first appearance and if it goes over good say that every time you speak. I would like to announce this is my first appearance. As i said this is my fourth appearance, it is my first appearance in this town or the general area of the town where my book takes place and for me that is very cool. It is also my first appearance at this store, my first appearance on booktv so this is all a wonderful thing for me. I thought what i would do tonight is start with a very short reading of about eight minutes from the introduction of the book so that you have not read the book youll get an idea of the scope of the story, three plot lines i try to thread together and i dont have time to talk about all of them obviously so i thought i would read from the beginning of the book, give you a sense of what it is about and then stop and talk a little about one of the characters from the book, someone Everybody Knows but generally doesnt associate with boston and then if i dont digress too much we should have plenty of time for discussion. I will start with a short reading from the introduction to the fever of 1721 the epidemic that revolutionized medicine and american politics. 1721 might be the most important anonymous year in the evolution of modern medicine and american liberty. During the worst smallpox epidemic in boston history a loan physician conducted an experiment that saved hundreds of lives, launched a new medical discipline and helped pave the way for the eradication of the worlds most devastating disease. The procedure he employed known as inoculation would over time be modified and extended to fight other diseases, preventing the deaths of untold millions of persons. In 1721, it was considered primitive, barbaric and tantamount to attempted murder. Town officials, medical establishment and many rank and file bostonthe ands opposed it, some willing to do anything to stop it. In april 17, 21 smallpox came to boston for the first time in two decades, arriving aboard the hms seahorse, a british warship. By the time the epidemic burned itself out, approximately half the towns 11,000 inhabitants had been infected. Among those who escaped death were 300 men, women and children who had undergone inoculation. The procedure began with an incision in the skin of a healthy person. The incision was implanted with viscous fluid from the vesicles and pustules of someone who had broken out in smallpox. The idea was to produce an extremely mild case of the disease and good for immunity against future infection. Prior to 1721 inoculation was virtually unknown in america and had never been attempted. A proposal to try it in boston came from an improbable source, the puritan minister cotton mathers, a master of fire and brimstone, who was one of the most controversial figures, chiefly as a consequence of his involvement in the salem witch hysteria three decades earlier. Generally regarded as a man prone to superstition and infatuation he had become in the years since salem an adherent of enlightenment signs and enthusiastic monitor of the latest and most exotic medical development in europe and beyond. The towns most esteemed physician dismissed the proposal out of hand but one doctor accepted the challenge. In 1721 boylston was 42 years old and successful as a physician and an apothecary shop owner. He had achieved a measure of fame for his uncommonly good track record in surgery. But was relegated to the second tier of medical practitioners because he lacked educational and social pedigree of many of his colleagues. Without boylstons daring James Franklin would never have launched a current. For four years the boston printer had been looking for an opportunity to start a newspaper modeled on the best london publications. A weekly that would be literate, weekly, provocative and ambitious. The antithesis of the generate goal and perfunctory boston newspapers already in circulation. In 1721 the public hunger for information and opinions about inoculation to put this plan into action. If this done nothing more than reprint excerpts, along with a topical spectator commentary of richard steele, it would have made a noteworthy contribution to the history of american journalism and american independence but it went further. Sidebyside with the great political and social thinkers of the european enlightenment james published distinctively american essays and letters penned by himself and his friends, they presumed to criticize and satirize the religious and political establishments of colonial massachusetts with a boldness that scandalize their fathers generation. Concurrent with the onion, the daily show, the colbert report, and argument can be made that the 11 American Social and political satire began with James Franklins newspaper with everything that followed from mark twain to will rogers to south park. At the same time he was amending American Social and political commentary James Franklin was also helping the man generally regarded as the first american. Two years after being pulled from school 12yearold Benjamin Franklin had been indentured as his brothers apprentice. For the better part of the next three years as he learned the trade that would make them wealthy been had embarked upon his selfeducation. s inspiration came from his brothers Printing House which contained a large and Diverse Library of books and periodicals and served as a Meeting Place for James Franklins clever and loquacious friends. Their conversations about books and pamphlets and debates about politics, religion and social issues of the day fired young benjamins mind and imagination and began to see his destiny unfold before him. Then in 1721, the 15yearold was given a front row seat in the inoculation controversy. What he learned from that debate and his involvement in the newspaper that grew out of it changed his life and helped define him as an author, publisher, political philosopher, experimenter and diplomat. In a sense everything Benjamin Franklin ever really needed to know he learned in 1721. Byerly 1722 he was ready to take the public stage, decide on a country widow. It is fitting the Political Movement that would make Benjamin Franklin famous as an American Patriot was coming of age at the same time he was. The man behind the first organized push toward american independence was a doctor turned businessman turned politician named eliza cook junior. The son of one of the coloniess wealthiest men and beloved politicians cook the younger had inherited his fathers fortune, politics, and bitter and abiding resentment for england for the 1684 cancellation of the original massachusetts charter which had given the colony a remarkable degree of political autonomy. Shortly after being elected to the massachusetts house of representatives for the first time in 1716, all three inheritances to work, opposing and obstructing the government. Before three years had elapsed the hard drinking cook had built americas First Political machine and also become the main distinguishing official one of whom accused him of poisoning the minds of his countrymen with, quote, this republican notion in order to assert the independence of new england. In 1721 smallpox epidemics marked a forwarding medical science and served as a catalyst for the invention of american journalism, the coming of age of Benjamin Franklin and the beginning of american independence itself. This book is about that epidemic and what accompanied it. It is a story of 5 remarkable men and how their courage, daring and desperation in a time of crisis defined their destinies and hours, thank you. As i mentioned i have 5 main characters in this book and im going to concentrate for the rest of my time before we have questions and answers on the most famous and beloved of those characters, someone who though generally associated with philadelphia was and remains very much a bostonian. Im talking about Benjamin Franklin. Franklin would leave boston when he was 17 years old and would never live in the town again. At a time for the rest of his life, he would sometimes say some rather tough things about his hometown. Famously wrote to lafayette who had named his daughter virginia in honor of the American Republic that he hoped the frenchman would be blessed with 12 more children so he could name one for each of the colonies but was quick to add he was worried for the soul of any child named massachusetts which he said was, quote, too harsh even for boys. So franklin never did return to boston permanently but may four extended visits to the town and he would have made a fifth. It is safe to say the town was never far from his box. Wherever he went, philadelphia, england, france, kept tabs on boston, famously his friend Joseph Priestley wrote when frank read about the military occupation of boston and the closing of its board in 1775 it was here that he cheats. In 1784 franklin wrote a letter confessing not only that he longed to see boston again but at one point he wanted to be buried in boston. He did not return to boston, he was not buried in boston but he did remember the town in his will and a lot of people are not aware of that. He bequeathed the same amount of money to boston as he did to philadelphia. So in all these ways franklin acknowledged how much boston meant to him but those gestures only begin to reflect how profoundly important the town was to have its development, philosopher, scientist and person. It is my contention in this book that the 5 years Benjamin Franklin spent with his brother james as an apprentice and especially the year 1721 when he helped james launch the new england current and had a front row seat for the inoculation controversy where the most formative years in his life. In my mind there is no question. I say as i mentioned that everything Benjamin Franklin ever wanted to know he learned in 1721. The book elaborates on why i make that claim so tonight i want to talk about what happened before that. Franklin did so many things we dont know that much about the earliest part of his life, there are many great biographies but because he had such a long life and did so many things, the first 15 or 20 years of his life usually get a few pages. I think that is more so i want to talk a little bit about how the Franklin Brothers got together, how they struggled to make a go of it, how they almost did not make a go of it and how that influenced what would happen in 1721 and ultimately Benjamin Franklins entire life. James and benjamin were the fourth and eighth children of Josiah Franklin, he had been married once, 7 children from his first marriage, he had 10 more children, Benjamin Franklin was the 10th and youngest son and because josiah was a very religious man with the old south church, he was very much developed as a puritan. He hoped to tie been to the church, to make him a gift to the church by setting him up to be a minister and in those days if you want to see a congregational minister there was a prescribed route, you went to learn latin as a prep school and went to Harvard College which is many of you if not all of you know started out as a Training Ground for computational preachers in new england so even though Josiah Franklin did not have a lot of money he made soap and cattle and even as the trade went, that is not very high, a highly paying job, he decided somehow or other he would present his son to harvard and ultimately make him a minister. Benjamin franklin started at boston latin and did quite well. The problem with it became clear quickly he lacked the calling to the minister. There is a famous story you have heard about. One winter, one fall when putting up provisions for the winter they were salting meat and he turned to his father and suggested they ought to just pray over the barrel once and pray every time they sat down to eat. That is the typical Benjamin Franklin logical kind of piece of logic. It was great for everything but not so great for someone who was going to be a preacher so when josiah realized he did not have the right stuff for the ministry he saw no reason to encourage huge expense, and when 10 years old, went to work in a power shop. This was hot physical work because they would boil down animal fats. Benjamin franklin who even at this age was already a strapping strong kid. He hated the work. And a prodigy. And he wanted to leave the apprenticeship and go to see. He wanted to see the world. His father was upset about that. It was Common Knowledge among everyone that being a sailor with a dangerous occupation which franklin already lost his son, his eldest son josiah junior left home against his wishes, hired on to a ship and lost at sea, perhaps by pirates they never knew. Josiah was determined Benjamin Franklin did not suffer that fate. He took his son all around town, took a day off of work which was something to do before those days, took his son all around town trying to find an occupation among all the trades. For a variety of reasons it didnt work out so there they are back in the tallow shop. Benjamin still miserable, josiah still worried that one day he is going to run off to see. James franklin returned to england, 20 years old, had been in england a number of years as a printer. He was back in boston, good at his trade, see what they were doing england and how exciting that was. And told his father, i need to turn this around and josiah said no way. What james needed was the money. Josiah had to borrow the money to get it to james, he said no way. A couple things, he thought james ought to cool his jets and serve his time and get to know the business a little better but he thought along with everyone else in boston that there were not enough printers in town and the town could not support another printer and the adventure would fail but james was determined and kept pushing and josiah found himself with james in one ear begging for the money and benjamin in another year begging to do anything but be in the power shop and he capitulated. He told james okay, i will get you the money providing you take his brother as your apprentice. Sounds like a good deal but they were strangers because James Franklin had been learning to become a printer almost all of Ben Franklins life. They didnt know each other very well. They were different as people but was the best deal either of them could get. In late august 17, 18 James Franklin and benjamin went into business in a little shop on queen street directly across from the town prison which would loom large in their futures. Maybe all of you know this but at the old statehouse about 100 yards, 150 yards, looking at a plaque on a building, you will see the spot where James Franklin and Benjamin Franklin had the Printing House. The Printing House has gone but the plaque marks the spot. Almost the first day ben franklin started working for his brother his life changed. Two years spent doing drudgery, drudgery, and printed materials, he was working, doing things that were natural for him. There was more to it than being surrounded by books. James franklin, his brother, was no slouch. As a reader, writer, thinker and more important he was a magnet for other young men like himself, young men in boston who were tired of the same old same old, tired of the extreme religious oppression i guess is the way to say it. Certainly restrictions. Every day those men would drop by the franklin Printing House, james and those guys would talk politics, philosophy and the big issues of the day and Benjamin Franklin as an apprentice could not participate but he was soaking it in. These were his features. That he didnt get when they were out of school. If you read the autobiography you know franklin talks a lot about selfeducation, how he taught himself math, how to be a better writer, how he taught himself to be a better debater etc. But he doesnt say but i think he should say that it was working for james, being in that particular Printing House, that exciting environment with books and men expecting ideas he never heard of that inspired him to start and made the journey and the film education. He wanted to be like them. So now soon after joining james in the Printing House ben franklin had his spirit broken. The fact his father was looking for another job and was going to let him out of the power shop reflects how bad Benjamin Franklin felt at that point. He was depressed, really depressed. Now he was reborn. He was in his element. Businesswise, not so much. Josiah franklin was right. Boston did not even other printer. After the Franklin Brothers opened their printing shop a young man named Samuel Newland was not just any young man but the nephew established successful printer in new england basically ran a printing dynasty, opened the Printing House across the island and that was something. Now it was a certainty that if there were any drips and drabs of printing the wasnt already picked up another printer that was going to go to samuel neil and not James Franklin and benjamin. That left the brothers almost the moment they opened their shop within a month. In a fairly desperate situation. James found he had to do two things he never thought he would have to do coming back from england. Print fabrics for the rich women in town. That is not what he had come to boston to do. He also found he had to carve woodcuts or illustrations for competitors. James happened to be the only person in boston who was artist enough to carve woodcuts into illustrations. It ought to have been a great advantage for James Franklin and Benjamin Franklin that they were the only ones who had these customized, very well done wood blocks illustrations in their published works but because of the way they worked out james found himself having to sell to his competitors making their work look great at his own expense so it was a bad situation but says something about james that he was not humbled by bad luck. In fact he advertised the fabric printing capabilities he and henchmen had and gathered the competition. He said he printed fabric, quote, without the offensive smell which commonly attend the linens printed here. He had bravado but beneath that bravado he got pretty desperate. The stress of trying to survive in business created more stress between the brothers. There were different types, james was intense, he was moody and he liked to drink. Benjamin was as strongwilled as his brother. Many years later he would admit he wasnt always an apprentice, he could be too soft and because others were in a bad state businesswise we know from the autobiography that james be been, and is something that was not uncommon among apprentices, natural apprentice relationships but something ben franklin presented for the rest of his life so after a few months of barely scraping by, really being on the edge of total failure james had anything funny. If he couldnt get enough of the available book, he would create his own content and during his time in england he discovered broadside ballot and broadside ballot is a single sheet of paper bigger than this and it was printed with verses, geared to be melodramatic recreations. If we did them today in our own ways we would say they were ripped from the headlines. You could write fast, rush them out, sell them for relatively little money. Providing as a publisher you have two things, first you need an excited enough attempt to dramatize and second you need a poet willing to write serviceable verses for as little money as possible. November 17, 18 James Franklin, a freak accident near little brewster island, then and now the location of boston light. What happened was the lighthouse keeper and his wife and daughter coming back from boston, ran a small boat approaching the island and for some reason it was a nice day, the sun was out, a little windy, nothing terrible, somehow the boat overturned and they almost drowned. What made the tragedy worse was the familys other daughter who stayed behind on the island, what made it in addition to being tragic it was also ironic. What made it ironic was people they were out at the outer reachs of Boston Harbor on a small rock. They had survived so far survived all kinds of terrible weather. In 1717 they raised sheep, had 70 some odd sheep swept into the ocean by a storm. People would not have been shocked by the storm, people expected a storm to kill them but this was a nice day. There was a sense of irony. When james heard about this he knew he had a subject. Now he needed a poet. When he could pay a little or even better nothing. He found one standing right next to him. Benjamin franklin and James Franklin had an uncle named ben, also named benjamin, who fancied himself a poet. Uncle ben encouraged young been to practice writing verse james knew his little brother could write something that passed verse but could a 12yearold boy which is what ben franklin was at this point create a drama that would pass like an adult . And get them out of trouble . No one knew the answer to that but james was desperate and benjamin was pushed so if they put benjamin to work, ben wrote the ballot based on newspaper accounts and hearsay. The brothers rented it. James loaded beens arms. Pushed him out the door, pushed him out the door, sent him to street corners, it was a huge hit. It was a phenomenon. Decades later franklin wrote an autobiography. He talked about how this was typical ben franklin. In one sentence he said it was wretched stuff and sold wonderful and that is very ben franklin. He didnt want to give himself too much credit but at the end of life when he did so many other things he took enormous pride in the first ballot he had written when he was 12 years old so the Franklin Brothers had a big windfall and james found what he hoped would be a way of making money, just had to wait for the next big event. Sure enough in early 7019, january 19, 7019, boston received word that blackbeard, the infamous pirate his real name was edward teach, had been killed off the coast of what would become north carolina. He was obviously one of the most famous pirates in history and part of it was what we did and part of it was how he looked. Blackbeard had a beard said to start right below his eyes and hang all the way to his waist and parted down the middle with red ribbon. Part of the idea was he looked crazy so he must be crazy and indeed he was pretty fearsome. Boston had a reason even beyond that to be afraid of him. The reason boston was afraid of him, blackbeard promised to burn boston to the ground because the town had tried, convicted and hanged a fellow pirate so when bostonians heard blackbeard was dead it was very big news. When they heard about the circumstances of his death, James Franklin realized he had to suffer another broadside ballot. What had happened was two Royal Navy Seals had trapped blackbeards ship in the cove but blackbeard had a bigger ship with more firepower so after getting very drunk, he went to the bow of the ship and started cursing out his wouldbe captors. He did that for several hours, drank and cursed, and then when he couldnt bait them into attacking him he opened fire on them. His superior firepower, it wasnt long before he pounded them into submission. When ship was nearly destroyed. The other was disabled. He thought he had won. He approached the lead ship, boarded it thinking he would have little or no resistance until he killed all the sailors on board. He was surprised by an ambush, sneak attack from the crew that was hiding below decks. An enormous handtohand close range battle broke out. The captain whose name was maynard shot blackbeard but blackbeard being blackbeard didnt kill him and one of maynards sailors stabbed blackbeard in the neck and blackbeard in what could only be described as perfect from a johnny depp pirate movie said well done, brad and if that sailor was flattered it didnt show by his next action because he was seen to decapitate blackbeard with one swing of his sword. Very graphic. The sailor sent the body into the ocean, put his head on the balustrade of the ship, sailed back triumphantly. James franklin heard this, this is absolutely what i need. James put benjamin to work writing another ballad called teach the pirate. It was also successful. Interestingly enough, nowadays you would think it would be more successful than the lighthouse drownings but it was not. Maybe a little too much for puritan boston. It did make money. What James Franklin walked away from that thinking was he cracked the code, found his niche. If nothing else his days of printing fabrics of rich women in town and job is to chang out his illustration carvings were finally over but that was not to be either. The ballads were broadly popular and financially successful, but they were looked down upon by bostonians who consider them tawdry and disreputable and inappropriate. Ben franklin and James Franklins father josiah was one of the biggest critics, josiah was not a wealthy man. He had a very humble trade, but largely because of involvement in the church and his own native intelligence ability, he had managed to climb socially and included the most powerful men in boston among his circle of friends. The judge Samuel Sewall was a regular visitor at the franklin home, arguably the most esteemed person in massachusetts. Josiah franklin was not happy about drowning ballad, but decapitating a pirate and writing about that was called something else. He called benjamin to his home, told him to continue doing this, your life will be worthless, didnt tell him to stop but just of it was you better stop doing this. Since James Franklin owed his father all the money he hadnt paid back in terms of money to start the business, he was obligated to honor his fathers wishes. That ended to the only real money making theme james and Benjamin Franklin were able to devise for two years in the business. By the beginning of 1721, after printing one of the two newspapers which was regular pay but did not last james and benjamin once again found themselves where they started in 1718, no further along towards security or even knowing whether they could survive another six months but they had learned two important things, the situation changed, which it was about to do would make the difference in terms of their successes. James discovered if he could create the right kind of content he could succeed and benjamin discovered that at 12 years old he could write better than adults. What james really wanted to do all along, inspired by really innovative publication he encountered in london. He held off because as i mentioned earlier the town had two newspapers and because conventional wisdom was the only thing boston needed less than another printer was another newspaper. In april 17, 21 smallpox came to boston, usually every 12 years. It was getting close to 20 years, 18 years and it would create the worst smallpox epidemic the town had ever seen. A few months after smallpox came back to boston, a doctor named Xavier Boylston conducted his first inoculation experiment using his fit 6yearold son as one of his first three patients. That act, would cause a controversy unlike anything boston had ever seen and james being an astute businessman realized he could exploit that controversy, capitalize on that controversy to start the newspaper he always wanted to start. The paper he would launch in august 17, 21 would be the first one in america published without government approval. In fact it would become the first paper in america, the first document printed in america of any kind that would argue for the right of the press to criticize the government. That is 70 years before the first amendment. The new england current would change the course of american journalism. It would start James Franklins little brother on his way to fortune and fame. Benjamin who by this point was already a very accomplished printer would learn how to be a successful and innovative publisher, savvy businessman, both of which his brother was that he would receive his first and in some ways most important lesson and enormous potential of scientific experimentation thanks to the inoculation experiment. He would also learn how to challenge authority and how not to challenge authority. In the pages of his brothers revolutionary newspaper he would read and eventually express in his own contributions ideas about Political Freedom that were entirely new to america in which 50 years in the future would make a been a central figure in the fight for american independence. Thank you. [applause] now if anybody has questions or would like to talk about other aspects of the book i would be happy to do it. The gentleman from booktv would like us if you would to wait until the mike comes around. Raise your hand please if you have a question and we will bring the mic over. Does anybody have a question . Compared to current day . This was actually a fairly sizable cut. It had to be deep enough to draw blood and deep enough, the size, the amount of smallpox inserted in the wound was said to be the volume of a p. It was not an enormous cut. This was before anybody understood germ theory. Simply cutting the skin left you open, left you susceptible to infection. That was one of the biggest threats of inoculation, not so much that the inoculation would kill you but a secondary infection that came from cutting the skin with a dirty knife or dirty implement of some kind. The one you were inoculated was the one taking the risk. Yes. The person being inoculated took the risk. The person the smallpox came from was unfortunately already very sick but what would happen is for example the reason we know this works for the reason cotton mathers and boylston believed it would work was cotton mathers had been told in africa whenever smallpox came to the village everyone would get these scars. Cotton mathers to his credit, unlike a lot of white men in that society at the time asked him to explain. What happened was he explained a procedure that turned out to be inoculation which cotton mathers subsequently read about in a scholarly journal and between those two things he was convinced it would work. It is a remarkably well researched book and wellwritten. I have been enjoying reading it for a couple days. Talk about writing it. Where did you find all this information and how long have you been thinking about it and how did it strike your interest . This started literally with calendar page. In the 1990s, a daytoday desk calendar, talks about the first use of inoculation against smallpox. It mentioned doctor boylston, that cotton mathers had given him the idea and that it was very controversial and that was all i knew. I knew boylston was a street in boston and cotton mathers was the bad guy of the salem witch trials. I had never heard of him. I thought i wanted to write a screenplay. I did a Little Research based on the story and it zoned in on the medical part of the story but as i started doing more research, getting deeper and deeper in the soil. I realized in addition to being an incredible medical story. It was about political history but journalistic history. When i told a friend about the idea he said you need to write that as a book. I decided impetuously to start researching in earnest enough to do the whole book and that took seven years to research to write, rewrite, shorten by half and publish. I left out stuff i needed to leave out which is a lot of back story. You do all that research, a lot of research into all the characters, biographical stuff and research into medical history, everything that had been done up to that point. And political history and journalistic. I had all this information and like a lot of writers i wanted to dump it all in and take everything at once. What happened was i trimmed away a little back story, basically trimmed away everything but the information leading to 1721 and what came out of it and the implications of it. Any other questions . I didnt know about the broadside ballad. He did it as you say because he knew ben was very fast file with words and writing. Did he ever suspect no one knew who silas dugan was that at some point not being able to identify this person that maybe it might have been his brother. It should have. It seems so obvious and if you read silas backwards with the knowledge of hindsight you can see different places where ben franklin peeks out, but he didnt. He did not know. I think it was because i think it was because there was such a strong for an apprentice to do anything without permission from his master. It was such a breach of protocol that james never thought benjamin would do it. He put benjamin to work on something that he was the master and ben was the apprentice. Never thought ben would do it himself when he found out he was very angry and then franklin talks about that or alludes to that in the autobiography but i agree. It is one of those things that seems obvious in hindsight but at the time a combination of not believing they would do that and partly because even james underestimated that. Sometimes those closest to us dont see who we are. James didnt want to see how brilliant his brother was so he didnt. Anybody else . Talk about alyssa cook. A fascinating character. I refer to him as our founding grandfather. A figure most people dont know about. He is the man who started the boston caucus, the original boston caucus, the First Political machine in america, in boston in 17191721 was when he came to full power. Elijah cook was a wealthy person who had grown up wealthy but his father had always resented when england canceled the first charter which had given so much power, they could pick their own governor and make their own laws, england had a handsoff approach towards massachusetts. When that went away, the new charter gave them a royal governor imposed by england and took away a lot of the economy, elijah cooks senior father was outraged, he was estranged from england and pass that to his son. Elijah cook junior, although he would have told you he was the subject of the crown didnt feel like a subject and didnt talk like a subject of the crown and he really spent the rest of his life when his father got older and retired and died elijah cook junior took up that cause and dedicated the rest of his life to making life miserable for england. He was enemy number one for the crown for many years and the organization he created gave birth in future decades to the other caucuses, the sons of liberty and a lot of the mechanisms by which the American Revolution was started. You may or may not know from the book at this point that sam adams, who we call the firebrand of the American Revolution has a direct tie to elijah cook. Elijah cook had deputies in the 1730s and 40s and one of those was samuel adams senior otherwise known as the deacon. Sam adams senior and elijah cook would eat at the adams house and sam adams junior would be there and sam adams would hear his father and elijah cook discussing political philosophy, strategies that confound the british and that is where sam adams got his politics, from elijah cook junior. He comes across as a remarkable parliamentarian, sam adams was a remarkable parliamentarian too. Elijah cook although he was rich as i mentioned he went out of his way to affect the look and behavior of the common man. He built up political power by buying drinks, a lot of taverns, he would build political power by getting people who were eligible to vote but never voted to engage in the political system. A populist before populism. To do this even though he was wealthy, harvard educated young man even though he had that upbringing made himself a man of the people. Sam adams in terms of how he dressed and looked and acted sam adams did the same thing. Anybody else . Talking about opening up the current, he started being a muckraker, puts me in mind of samuel adams defended a publisher and acquitted him, that became the basis of the first amendment, freedom of the press. I guess i could research that. I dont know what the paper was that sam adams defended. Would it have been current . No. It was defunct by the 1720s. Boston got the best of James Franklin. He was ostracized and kicked out of town and moved to newport and started Printing Houses there but there are connections. I talk in the book about the famous zanger trial, there was a connection to these guys and im going to forget names now. I dont remember the lawyer now, but he had a connection to ben franklin. That might have been much later but the trial happen before. It indicated a precedent, and when he tried, there was already a mood in america against or for a president to criticize the government and what happened with the current and James Franklin, would continue to talk about press in the newspaper. That had an influence on what followed. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, stephen coss. Thank you for coming out. We will have assigning at the table. We are going to clear everybody away. Books for sale at the counter in the next room. Thank you all. You are watching the tv on cspan2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Booktv, television for serious readers. On this memorial day weekend three full days of booktv. You will hear from several authors this weekend. On our afterwards program, democracy now host amy goodman talks about americas workingclass. From this years book expo publishing convention publisher Chris Jackson talks about working on the awardwinning book between the world and me. Edited the book release party, former Senior Advisor to david cameron. On monday an extra day of booktv featuring several authors including Pulitzer Prize winner on the intellectual life of thomas jefferson. Radio talkshow host Dennis Prager discussing the importance of the 10 commandments, diane ream sharing about her involvement with the right to die movement and you learn about the namesake of the john birch society. That is just a few of the authors coming up this holiday we can. For complete schedule go to booktv. Org. Booktv on cspan2, 72 hours of nonfiction books and authors this memorial day weekend. Host joining us onset is radio talkshow host and author of seven books Dennis Prager. His most recent book is called the 10 commandments still the best moral code. Dennis prager, what is on your mind . Guest very good opening question and i will answer you completely honestly, what is on my mind . It is not totally germane but quite germane to the 10 , the gr and i do believe that a big part