Volume 1: Benjamin Franklin, John Woolman and William Penn #2

The bulk of Volume 1 talked about John Woolman and William Penn, both Quakers. The only thing I knew about Quakers is a) that they're sometimes referred to as "Society of Friends" (which I rather like) and b) they're dedicated to social betterment and pacifism. I'm not a religious person at all, but I can respect this.

The Journal of John Woolman was fascinating. It was a social justice text, advocating abolition and wanting equality for all. Like Ben Franklin's Autobiography, it seemed to lack an ego, but instead, discussed becoming a better person - spiritually and morally. Perhaps this was a theme in Volume 1: great men through force of will and intellect wanting to improve the world.

One of the stories that stuck with me is how, when a young man working as a clerk, Woolman had to write a bill of sale for a slave. This event sickened him and he became a crusader against one of the worst wrongs in the New World. I didn't realize that some (a few) Quakers were slaveholders themselves, and that quite rightly upset Woolman and he helped push against slavery over 100 years before a war almost destroyed the United States over the issue.

The Journal was the first of many books in the Harvard Classics that I felt a sense of shame over. I'm in my 30s and just *now* heard of John Woolman? I felt like I screwed up somewhere in my journey of education. Despite being an atheist, Woolman's work was powerful to me. I later learned that the Journal has been continually published since 1774, only behind the Bible. What a great man I wish I had learned about in my formative years.

William Penn is an interesting guy. I knew he was the namesake of the state of Pennsylvania and was one of the first people calling for unification of the colonies. But that's about it. I also learned he's not the Quaker Oats logo. His Fruits of Solitude was a collection of sayings and maxims, about everything from marriage to friendship to being a better person in the Quaker way. Compared to Woolman's Journal, Fruits of Solitude was easier to read and remember and could reach a wider audience like Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.

Penn himself had laid the groundwork for a lot of what we should be thankful for. Those controversial rights we have like freedom of religion and trial by jury? Thank Penn for that. Unfortunately, Penn died broke in England, despite having left behind a state where Quakers could thrive in the Colonies. Like most good men, they got taken advantage of by business partners. I felt bad reading that after finishing Fruits of Solitude. He was an idealist, and one of the best our country has had.

Volume 1: Benjamin Franklin, John Woolman and William Penn #1

Now, I'd like to think of myself as a fairly educated person, but that's all gone now. I spent my adult life learning science, engineering and technology. So it was time to go back to school and learn.

The first volume of the Harvard Classics contains three books: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the Journal of John Woolman and Fruits of Solitude by William Penn. Before I got started with this first volume, I had no idea who John Woolman was. I knew the name William Penn but admittedly knew next to nothing about him. Benjamin Franklin, on the otherhand... who doesn't know about Ben Franklin?

 

You would think that a man as legendary as Benjamin Franklin would write an autobiography talking about how great he was. After all, he is an amazing man: statesman, politician, writer, inventor, ladies' man - you name it. Look up the word polymath and you'll see the definition as "wanting to be 1% as amazing as Ben Franklin." So for Franklin in his own autobiography to talk about how great he was wouldn't be bragging, just a statement of fact. But there wasn't. There wasn't a trace of bravado or ego that I could detect. The autobiography starts with his childhood, and his fondness of swimming and reading. Eventually he learns the trade of being a printer in Boston from his brother and starts to write, eventually becoming a star. His jealous brother, James, shafts Ben, and over the course of a few years, forces Ben to look for a job in New York, then Philadelphia.

From there, Franklin eventually starts a newspaper and attracts the attention of politicians for his intellect and hard work. In between writing Poor Richard's Almanac, religious pamphlets, building the first public library and inventing, Ben Franklin still had time to advise elected officials who came to him for advice. To politicians, his advice and proposals were pure gold. And we haven't even got close to discussing the Revolutionary War and his part in it. I know, I'm cutting it short, but if all of the works of the Harvard Classics were as awesome as this, then I was going to be in for an amazing reward.

Sure, you can find faults for this book. It was written over a span of nearly 20 years, so there are gaps in logic, narrative and coherence. The Autobiography lacks anything on the Revolution, which is a real downer. Some commenters said that there was a tone of arrogance and condescension, but I didn't see it. And if I did, I let it go by virtue of his contributions.

So what did I learn from his autobiography? Hard work, being humble and owning up to mistakes will take you far in life. He didn't come from a rich family and climbed his way up to becoming one of the greatest Americans ever. But why include this in the Harvard Classics? My guess is that as a historical record, it's necessary to read in order to understand what it was like in the colonies before the drums of war started to beat loudly. It was the first and major autobiographies in the English language, which wasn't a genre at that point. And a few volumes later, it hit me that a reason why this was included was to say to readers of the Harvard Classics: "Look at what this man did through self-improvement" - after all, 100 years ago, people started to read this collection to better themselves. Perhaps it was a wish of Dr. Charles Eliot to give common men and women the means to obtain a Harvard education to make better people of us all.

Next up: John Woolman and William Penn.

Getting Started

About 4 years ago, I decided that I'd embark upon reading the Harvard Classics, a 51 volume set of books compiled in the early 1900's designed to give the reader a "liberal education." Also called the Five Foot Shelf of Books, Dr. Eliot put serious work in putting together this compendium and deserves a vast amount of credit in developing this and allowing dissemination of knowledge to anyone who would could afford it. As I close in on finishing the massive series of books, I decided that I'd blog about it.

I'm almost finished reading every single page of the Harvard Classics, including the 20 volume set of the Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. There are reading guides out there that allow you to read 15 minutes a day and in retrospect, perhaps I would have done better if I read that instead. And after reading a few of the volumes, I've been left scratching my head and indulging in late night research sessions wondering "What the hell did I just read?"

Certainly I'm richer for having read these books, and I don't regret it for a bit, but a lot of questions have come up. Does this collection of books still hold value for those pursing a liberal education? If there was an updated version of the Five Foot Shelf of Books, what would be added or removed? Are the texts enough, or do they need explanations as well?

I'm not an academic, but I figured that I should at least write notes down regarding each volume of the collection and see where it leads.

A few thing as I get started: I read these books over the course of four years. For me to recall everything is impossible, therefore any errors in my recollection are entirely my fault. As I write this blog, I'll go back and look up what I read and try to summarize it with attributions as I go along. For any misattributions, I wholeheartedly apologize. They are inadvertent. I also apologize for any accidental swearing in any blog post. And if there's any question about the accuracy of what I wrote, I'm probably wrong.