Benjamin Franklin
Winner of the 2002 Colonial Dames of America Annual Book Award Edmund S. Morgan, honored for what 2006 Pulitzer officials described as “his creative and deeply influential body of work as an American historian that spans the last half century.” Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003 Named one of the best books of 2002 by Los Angeles Times Book Review Named a Best Book of 2002—Salt Lake City Tribune Chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review Chosen as a best book for 2002 by the Washington Post Book World Chosen as a best book for 2002 by Publishers Weekly A finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography A New York Times Bestseller Won a 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from The English-Speaking Union of the United States
“The best short biography of Franklin ever written.”—Gordon S. Wood
Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the most remarkable figure in American history: the greatest statesman of his age, he played a pivotal role in the formation of the American republic. He was also a pioneering scientist, a bestselling author, the country’s first postmaster general, a printer, a bon vivant, a diplomat, a ladies’ man, and a moralist—and the most prominent celebrity of the eighteenth century.
Franklin was, however, a man of vast contradictions, as Edmund Morgan demonstrates in this brilliant biography. A reluctant revolutionary, Franklin had desperately wished to preserve the British Empire, and he mourned the break even as he led the fight for American independence. Despite his passion for science, Franklin viewed his groundbreaking experiments as secondary to his civic duties. And although he helped to draft both the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, he had personally hoped that the new American government would take a different shape. Unraveling the enigma of Franklin’s character, Morgan shows that he was the rare individual who consistently placed the public interest before his own desires.
Written by one of our greatest historians, Benjamin Franklin offers a provocative portrait of America’s most extraordinary patriot.
Edmund S. Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, has written more than a dozen books. Cited as “one of America’s most distinguished historians,” he was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2000.
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