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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Paperback – Bargain Price, June 1, 2004

by Walter Isaacson (Author)

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In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, worthy, moral, and spiritually meaningful?
Highlighted by 2,164 Kindle readers
History is a tale, Franklin came to believe, not of immutable forces but of human endeavors.
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“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Washington Post Book World The most readable full-length Franklin biography available.

The New Yorker Energetic, entertaining, and worldly.

The New York Times In its common sense, clarity and accessibility, it is a fitting reflection of Franklin's sly pragmatism....This may be the book that most powerfully drives a new pendulum swing of the Franklin reputation.

The New York Times Book Review A thoroughly researched, crisply written, convincingly argued chronicle.

About the Author

Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One: Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America

His arrival in Philadelphia is one of the most famous scenes in autobiographical literature: the bedraggled 17-year-old runaway, cheeky yet with a pretense of humility, straggling off the boat and buying three puffy rolls as he wanders up Market Street. But wait a minute. There's something more. Peel back a layer and we can see him as a 65-year-old wry observer, sitting in an English country house, writing this scene, pretending it's part of a letter to his son, an illegitimate son who has become a royal governor with aristocratic pretensions and needs to be reminded of his humble roots.

A careful look at the manuscript peels back yet another layer. Inserted into the sentence about his pilgrim's progress up Market Street is a phrase, written in the margin, in which he notes that he passed by the house of his future wife, Deborah Read, and that "she, standing at the door, saw me and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward ridiculous appearance." So here we have, in a brief paragraph, the multilayered character known so fondly to his author as Benjamin Franklin: as a young man, then seen through the eyes of his older self, and then through the memories later recounted by his wife. It's all topped off with the old man's deft little affirmation -- "as I certainly did" -- in which his self-deprecation barely cloaks the pride he felt regarding his remarkable rise in the world.

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us. George Washington's colleagues found it hard to imagine touching the austere general on the shoulder, and we would find it even more so today. Jefferson and Adams are just as intimidating. But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those newfangled spectacles. He speaks to us, through his letters and hoaxes and autobiography, not with orotund rhetoric but with a chattiness and clever irony that is very contemporary, sometimes unnervingly so. We see his reflection in our own time.

He was, during his eighty-four-year-long life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity, and he invented a rod to tame it. He devised bifocal glasses and clean-burning stoves, charts of the Gulf Stream and theories about the contagious nature of the common cold. He launched various civic improvement schemes, such as a lending library, college, volunteer fire corps, insurance association, and matching grant fund-raiser. He helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor and philosophical pragmatism. In foreign policy, he created an approach that wove together idealism with balance-of-power realism. And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies and creating a federal model for a national government.

But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.

Partly, it was a matter of image. As a young printer in Philadelphia, he carted rolls of paper through the streets to give the appearance of being industrious. As an old diplomat in France, he wore a fur cap to portray the role of backwoods sage. In between, he created an image for himself as a simple yet striving tradesman, assiduously honing the virtues -- diligence, frugality, honesty -- of a good shopkeeper and beneficent member of his community.

But the image he created was rooted in reality. Born and bred a member of the leather-aproned class, Franklin was, at least for most of his life, more comfortable with artisans and thinkers than with the established elite, and he was allergic to the pomp and perks of a hereditary aristocracy. Throughout his life he would refer to himself as

"B. Franklin, printer."

From these attitudes sprang what may be Franklin's most important vision: an American national identity based on the virtues and values of its middle class. Instinctively more comfortable with democracy than were some of his fellow founders, and devoid of the snobbery that later critics would feel toward his own shopkeeping values, he had faith in the wisdom of the common man and felt that a new nation would draw its strength from what he called "the middling people." Through his self-improvement tips for cultivating personal virtues and his civic-improvement schemes for furthering the common good, he helped to create, and to celebrate, a new ruling class of ordinary citizens.

The complex interplay among various facets of Franklin's character -- his ingenuity and unreflective wisdom, his Protestant ethic divorced from dogma, the principles he held firm and those he was willing to compromise -- means that each new look at him reflects and refracts the nation's changing values. He has been vilified in romantic periods and lionized in entrepreneurial ones. Each era appraises him anew, and in doing so reveals some assessments of itself.

Franklin has a particular resonance in twenty-first-century America. A successful publisher and consummate networker with an inventive curiosity, he would have felt right at home in the information revolution, and his unabashed striving to be part of an upwardly mobile meritocracy made him, in social critic David Brooks's phrase, "our founding Yuppie." We can easily imagine having a beer with him after work, showing him how to use the latest digital device, sharing the business plan for a new venture, and discussing the most recent political scandals or policy ideas. He would laugh at the latest joke about a priest and a rabbi, or about a farmer's daughter. We would admire both his earnestness and his self-aware irony. And we would relate to the way he tried to balance, sometimes uneasily, the pursuit of reputation, wealth, earthly virtues, and spiritual values.

Some who see the reflection of Franklin in the world today fret about a shallowness of soul and a spiritual complacency that seem to permeate a culture of materialism. They say that he teaches us how to live a practical and pecuniary life, but not an exalted existence. Others see the same reflection and admire the basic middle-class values and democratic sentiments that now seem under assault from elitists, radicals, reactionaries, and other bashers of the bourgeoisie. They regard Franklin as an exemplar of the personal character and civic virtue that are too often missing in modern America.

Much of the admiration is warranted, and so too are some of the qualms. But the lessons from Franklin's life are more complex than those usually drawn by either his fans or his foes. Both sides too often confuse him with the striving pilgrim he portrayed in his autobiography. They mistake his genial moral maxims for the fundamental faiths that motivated his actions.

His morality was built on a sincere belief in leading a virtuous life, serving the country he loved, and hoping to achieve salvation through good works. That led him to make the link between private virtue and civic virtue, and to suspect, based on the meager evidence he could muster about God's will, that these earthly virtues were linked to heavenly ones as well. As he put it in the motto for the library he founded, "To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine." In comparison to contemporaries such as Jonathan Edwards, who believed that men were sinners in the hands of an angry God and that salvation could come through grace alone, this outlook might seem somewhat complacent. In some ways it was, but it was also genuine.

Whatever view one takes, it is useful to engage anew with Franklin, for in doing so we are grappling with a fundamental issue: How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, worthy, moral, and spiritually meaningful? For that matter, which of these attributes is most important? These are questions just as vital for a self-satisfied age as they were for a revolutionary one.

Copyright © 2003 by Walter Isaacson

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 074325807X
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (June 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 586 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780743258074
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743258074
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)
- #9 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History
- #47 in Political Leader Biographies

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Walter Isaacson

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Walter Isaacson is writing a biography of Elon Musk. He is the author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race; Leonardo da Vinci; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He is a Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine.

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KingSonal

"He snatched lightning from the sky and scepters from tyrants."

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2014

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WHAT I LIKED:

- Benjamin Franklin. He is an absolutely amazing person, whose splendid character shines forth in his own writings and the descriptions of his activities. Even one of Franklin’s famous rivals, John Adams, later in life said, “There is scarce a scratch of his pen that is not worth preserving.”

- The narrative style approach. This isn’t a boring book that simply chronicles what happened and when. It is like a story, and despite being so comprehensive, it doesn’t seem long enough. It gets more and more exciting as you go through it, even showing hints of a spy novel at one point. While I typically don’t read biographies more than once, this is a book I will likely read many times again.

- The technical detail. As Franklin was an inventor, the author could have been excused for glossing over many of the technical details of his inventions. But he doesn’t do that. The author presents the information in a way that any person can understand. It makes the reader appreciate Franklin all that much more.

- Time travel. This book takes you back to 18th century America, and you feel very close to the many famous personalities who helped in forming the country. The author has done a wonderful job in making something so distant seem so accessible. You get a taste for England and France from that time period as well.

- Reference material. In reading this book, you come across a lot of names. There are many people who had the pleasure to meet Franklin, and one thing I started doing in the course of reading was looking up many of these people. I was surprised to find out how famous and influential they were. And wouldn’t you know it, the author provides a nice glossary at the end which gives a brief description of each character. There are some nice photos and paintings included as well.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

- Snide commentary. There are many, many instances of where ill motives are erroneously ascribed to Franklin. The author many times attacks Franklin’s own autobiography, saying he wasn’t entirely honest. And these criticisms are of minor points, such as the way Franklin characterized his own parents. I would have preferred the author save his judgments for a separate chapter instead of interweaving it throughout the narrative.

- Gossip column/Tabloid reporting. There is one section of this book in particular which was done in very poor taste. Without giving away too many details, imagine if your worst enemy hacked your email account, took your personal correspondence and then sent it to others. And then imagine that this enemy put their own comments in parentheses after each paragraph. This describes a major section of this book, dealing particularly with Franklin’s time in England. The author obviously invested much time and effort in writing this book, and so he has a right to formulate opinions. But the manner in which they were inserted in some places was very off-putting, due particularly to the fact that I considered the negative comments to be completely off base.

- Chastising of Franklin’s character. By all accounts, Franklin was a stand-up guy who had affection for everyone. Perhaps in having little to criticize, the author decided to take issue with the fact that Franklin was friendlier and more open in his dealings with his friends than he was with his family. The author wants you to think that Franklin liked his friends more than his family. But in reality, the level of interaction doesn’t necessarily equate to affection. We make friends with equals, whereas our family members are either our dependents or our superiors. We treat dependents differently than we do friends. The famous Indian philosopher Chanakya said that disciples and children should never be coddled; only criticized. This is for their own good. Franklin seemed to follow a similar approach, though he wasn’t very harsh. To me the way he treated his family is actually a sign of his great affection for them, and not the other way around.

VERDICT:

A lot of the commentary I didn’t like had footnotes to it, suggesting that perhaps the author was merely passing on the opinions of previous historians. Despite the few negatives, this is an excellent book. I first read the “A Benjamin Franklin Reader” book by the same author, and that interested me enough to purchase this one. Franklin wrote and did so much that one book could never do him justice, but this is a great start. I give many thanks to the author for taking the time to compile this wonderful and insightful work.

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T. Graczewski

Uncle Ben

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018

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Many years back I endeavored to read a full-length biography on each of the Founding Fathers. For most, I had multiple options and several had undisputed “definitive” single volumes available, such as McCullough on Adams and Chernow on Hamilton. For Benjamin Franklin, Carl Van Doren’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winner was still considered the best, but I found it tedious and dry. Van Doren had somehow taken the most affable and relatable Founding Father and turned him into a moldy museum piece. The Washington Post was clearly taking an aim at Van Doren’s classic when, in a 2003 review of Isaacson’s “Benjamin Franklin,” they called it “the most readable full-length Franklin biography available.” I must wholeheartedly agree. Isaacson’s avuncular Franklin comes to life, bursting with humor and sagacity in equal measure.

Isaacson develops four themes in the life of Franklin; each is quintessentially American. First is an almost reflexive resistance to arbitrary authority. Beginning with the bucking of his printer apprenticeship to his older brother, James, in Boston in his teenage years and ending with his leadership in the American Revolution as an octogenarian, Franklin always bridled against heavy hands of authority. Almost from birth, Franklin retained what Isaacson calls an “inbred resistance to established authority.”

That is not to say that Franklin was a natural born revolutionary. Quite the contrary, according to Isaacson. To begin with, in addition to hostility to authority, Franklin also possessed an equally strong aversion to disorder and mob behavior. In the early 1760s, Franklin was “an enthusiastic and unabashed royalist,” Isaacson says, and prior to the 1770s remained “a proud and loyal Englishman, one who sought to strengthen his majesty’s empire rather than seek independence for the American colonies.” That loyalty was steadily eroded as the British tightened their grip on colonial life. It was, Isaacson writes, a steady collection of “personal slights, dashed hopes, betrayals, and the accretion of hostile British acts” that finally pushed Franklin into the rebel camp.

Second, Franklin maintained an unshakable belief in the value of merit, virtue, and hard work. He was his own best example of the good things that come to those who work hard and apply their talents to useful endeavors. The breadth of Franklin’s contribution is eye-popping. He developed significant improvements to such critical eighteenth-century devices as the heating stove and street lamps. He designed an entirely new musical instrument, the “armonica.” He organized the development of major institutions that still exist today, such as the University of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, and Pennsylvania Hospital. And, of course, as everyone knows he invented the lightning rod and bifocals. For all of his fame and myriad achievements in science, literature, and industry, Isaacson is quick to point out that Franklin’s ability was of a unique, yet almost quotidian variety. For instance, “Franklin would never develop into a rigorous, first-rank philosopher…he was more comfortable exploring practical thoughts and real-life situations.” Nor was he exactly a first-rate scientist. “Ingenious as he was,” Isaacson writes, “[Franklin] was no Galileo or Newton. He was a practical experimenter more than a systematic theorist.” Indeed, Isaacson concludes, “In science [Franklin] was more an Edison than a Newton, in literature more a Twain than a Shakespeare, in philosophy more a Dr. Johnson than a Bishop Berkeley, and in politics more a Burke than a Locke.”

Third, Franklin believed that one can best serve God by serving your fellow man. Thus, while he promoted “hard work, individual enterprise, frugality, and self-reliance” on the one hand, he also pushed for “civic cooperation, social compassion, and voluntary community improvement schemes,” on the other. Such “good works” were at the foundation of his spiritual life and self-identity. Raised in Puritan Boston and established in Quaker Philadelphia, Franklin nevertheless firmly believed “A virtuous heretic shall be saved before a wicked Christian.”

Finally, Franklin’s unique blend of intelligence, wit, compromise, and bonhomie made him, in Isaacson’s estimation, “the greatest American diplomat of all time.” He was “America’s first great image maker and public relations master.” No other American in the 1780s was more famous than Franklin and arguably no one understood all thirteen colonies better. Owing to his time in Boston and Philadelphia and his responsibilities as postmaster, Franklin was “one of the few to view America as a whole,” Isaacson writes. He was “the most traveled and least parochial of colonial leaders.” Likewise, he pursued a unique American foreign policy mixed realism and idealism, what Isaacson calls “the warp and woof of a resilient foreign policy.”

In closing, Franklin was – and in many ways still is – the personification of America: “Its cracker-barrel humor and wisdom; its technological ingenuity; its pluralistic tolerance; its ability to weave together individualism and community cooperation; its philosophical pragmatism; its celebration of meritocratic mobility; the idealistic streak ingrained in its foreign policy; and the Main Street virtues that serve as the foundation for its civic values.” Or as the great historian Frederick Jackson Turner put it in 1887: “[Franklin’s] life is the story of American common sense in its highest form applied to business, to politics, to science, to diplomacy, to religion, to philanthropy.”

It has been argued that Americans are either natural born haters or lovers of Franklin. I suspect that both Isaacson and I are the latter, and this is a biography for those in that happy camp.

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Seann Haver

Very intelligent practical man!

Reviewed in Canada on April 26, 2024

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A champion of the lower and middle class! He is someone who is not influenced by religious dogma, is a practical scientific man. I like that he values others opinions and is open to negotiating when necessary to reach a consensus, which is what is needed in a democracy.

Luis Mejia

Awesome

Reviewed in Mexico on October 4, 2022

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One of the best bio.

Rafael Ladeira

Ótimo livro

Reviewed in Brazil on November 25, 2021

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Foi um dos melhores livros que li até agora. Bem escrito e conta a história de uma pessoa além do seu tempo.

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Yogesh

Superb writing

Reviewed in India on June 23, 2023

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The book just takes to the world almost two to three centuries ago. Brilliantly written and superb stirytelling of the life of Benjamin Franklin. It is a must read for history enthusiasts. Superbly portrayed his colourful life.

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Casildabenz

Casilda

Reviewed in France on August 2, 2019

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Such an interesting and complex personality that really shaped his country. Read this book after the one on Einstein- to recommend!

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