On Mark Twain, a Biography

Occasionally American genius favors those with little formal education. Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest minds among the nation’s Founders, spent two years at Boston’s Latin School but withdrew at the age of ten, due to lack of funds. After a white mistress tutored and then turned on him, the enslaved Frederick Douglass taught himself, evolving into a brilliant orator and prose stylist. Despite poor grades and a brief stint at Columbia’s program of general studies, Jane Jacobs went on to a singular career as a theorist and acclaimed author; her The Death and Life of American Cities remains a keystone for understanding how urban centers thrive.