Benjamin Franklin may have been the most remarkable American ever to live: a printer, scientist, inventor, politician, diplomat, and--finally--an icon. His life was so sweeping that this comprehensive biography by H.W. Brands at times reads like a history of the United States during the 18th century. Franklin was at the center of America's transition from British colony to new nation, and was a kind of Founding Grandfather to the Founding Fathers; he was a full generation older than George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, and they all viewed him with deep respect. "Of those patriots who made independence possible, none mattered more than Franklin, and only Washington mattered as much," writes Brands (author of a well-received Teddy Roosevelt biography, T.R.: The Last Romantic). Franklin was a complex character who sometimes came up a bit short in the personal virtue department, once commenting, "That hard-to-be-governed passion of youth had hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way." When he married, another woman was already pregnant with his child--a son he took into his home and had his wife raise.

Franklin is best remembered for other things, of course. His still-famous Poor Richard's Almanac helped him secure enough financial freedom as a printer to retire and devote himself to the study of electricity (which began, amusingly, with experiments on chickens). His mind never rested: He invented bifocals, the armonica (a musical instrument made primarily of glass), and, in old age, a mechanical arm that allowed him to reach books stored on high shelves. He served American interests as a diplomat in Europe; without him, France might not have intervened in the American Revolution. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He possessed a sense of humor, too. In 1776, when John Hancock urged the colonies to "hang together," Franklin is said to have commented, "We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Franklin's accomplishments were so numerous and varied that they threaten to read like a laundry list. Yet Brands pours them into an engrossing narrative, and they leap to life on these pages as the grand story of an exceptional man. The First American is an altogether excellent biography. --John J. Miller


From Publishers Weekly
"Franklin's story is the story of a manDan exceedingly gifted man and a most engaging one. It is also the story of the birth of AmericaDan America this man discovered in himself, then helped create in the world at large," says Texas A&M historian Brands (T.R.: The Last Romantic, etc.) in the prologue to his stunning new work. Franklin's father took him out of school at age 11, but the boy assiduously sacrificed sleep (while working as an apprentice printer) to read and learn, giving himself rigorous exercises to develop his ease with language and discourse, among other disciplines. In essence, as Brands vividly demonstrates, Franklin defined the Renaissance man. He made multiple contributions to science (electricity, meteorology), invention (bifocal lenses, the Franklin furnace) and civic institutions (the American Philosophical Society, the University of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Post Office). But Brands is primarily concerned with Franklin's development as a thinker, politician and statesman and places his greatest emphasis there. In particular, Brands does an excellent job of capturing Franklin's exuberant versatility as a writer who adopted countless personaeDevidence of his gift for seeing the world through a variety of different lensesDthat not only predestined his prominence as a man of letters but also as an agile man of politics. From Franklin's progress as a self-declared "Briton"Dserving as London agent for Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other coloniesDto his evolution as an American (wartime minister to France, senior peace negotiator with Britain and, finally, senior participant at the Constitutional Convention), Brands, with admirable insight and arresting narrative, constructs a portrait of a complex and influential man ("only Washington mattered as much") in a highly charged world. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In this new biography, Brands (history, Texas A&M Univ.; T.R.: The Last Romantic) sees Franklin's January 29, 1774 confrontation in Parliament with Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Rosslyn (1733-1805), as the formative moment in Benjamin Franklin's life. During those two hours in the "Cockpit," it was not just Wedderburn insulting Franklin, "it was also Britain mocking America." Franklin's story, as Brands sees and tells it, "is also the story of the birth of AmericaDan America this man discovered in himself, then helped create in the world at large." Brands, a master storyteller himself, draws on letters to and by Franklin, as well as recollections of Franklin's contemporaries, to create an absorbing portrait of the 18th-century world that was the backdropDand the stageDfor America's multidimensional journalist, inventor, diplomat, propagandist, moralist, humorist, and revolutionary. Brands's eminently readable narrative is a worthy successor to Carl Van Doren's classic Pulitzer Prize-winning Benjamin Franklin. Recommended for public and academic libraries.DRobert C. Jones, Central Missouri State Univ., Warrensburg Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Just as he suggested the humble turkey as our national bird in lieu of the bald eagle, so it might be argued that, celebrated as he is, Benjamin Franklin's contributions to the forging of the young United States have gone underappreciated. His Zelig-like knack for being in and among the influential figures of the day, his lightning wit, his business acumen, his literary and journalistic accomplishments, his inventions, his skills at negotiation -- these qualities that so set Franklin apart in his day inspire a sort of astonished admiration today. Brands's engaging and insightful look at this latter-day Renaissance man is a welcome and overdue tribute.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the first comprehensive biography of Benjamin Franklin in over sixty years, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands brings vividly to life one of the most delightful, bawdy, brilliant, original, and important figures in American history." "Now, in a researched account of Franklin's life and times, his clever repartee, generous spirit, and earthy wisdom are brought compellingly to the page. His circle of friends and acquaintances extended around the globe, from Cotton Mather to Voltaire, from Edmund Burke to King George III, from Sir Isaac Newton to Immanuel Kant. Franklin was gifted with a restless curiosity, and his scientific experiments with electric currents and the weather made him the leading pioneer in the new field of electricity on both sides of the Atlantic. From his humble beginnings in Boston as a printer's apprentice, he became, within two decades, the leading printer and one of the most important businessmen in the Colonies." "Drawing on previously unpublished letters to and from Franklin, as well as the recollections and anecdotes of Franklin's contemporaries, H. W. Brands has created a portrait of the eighteenth-century genius who was in every respect America's first Renaissance man, and arguably the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America.

FROM THE CRITICS

Washington Post Book World

One of the more interesting rags-to-riches lives in the history of humanity.

Book Magazine

Historian Brands illuminates Franklin's many facets in this informative biography. One can quibble with Brands' hyperbolic title (the term "first American" could apply to a dozen other figures), but not with Franklin's contribution to American history. Born into a colonial America still ruled by Great Britain and dominated by religious ideologues, he helped transform the loosely affiliated colonies into a united, freedom-loving opposition to the crown and later into a full-fledged nation. In retelling Franklin's life, Brands writes in a clear, lively, novelistic style and is especially good at revealing Franklin, the living, breathing, flawed human being. But when reporting on a life as rich as Franklin's, it's hard not to leave out as much interesting detail as one leaves in. Gossip lovers will no doubt be dismayed at how little space is devoted to the juicier moments in Franklin's life, such as his foolish middle-age dalliance with the twenty-three-year-old Katy Ray. Even at 759 pages, this book still ends too quickly. —Jack Helbig

Publishers Weekly

"Franklin's story is the story of a man--an exceedingly gifted man and a most engaging one. It is also the story of the birth of America--an America this man discovered in himself, then helped create in the world at large," says Texas A&M historian Brands (T.R.: The Last Romantic, etc.) in the prologue to his stunning new work. Franklin's father took him out of school at age 11, but the boy assiduously sacrificed sleep (while working as an apprentice printer) to read and learn, giving himself rigorous exercises to develop his ease with language and discourse, among other disciplines. In essence, as Brands vividly demonstrates, Franklin defined the Renaissance man. He made multiple contributions to science (electricity, meteorology), invention (bifocal lenses, the Franklin furnace) and civic institutions (the American Philosophical Society, the University of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Post Office). But Brands is primarily concerned with Franklin's development as a thinker, politician and statesman and places his greatest emphasis there. In particular, Brands does an excellent job of capturing Franklin's exuberant versatility as a writer who adopted countless personae--evidence of his gift for seeing the world through a variety of different lenses--that not only predestined his prominence as a man of letters but also as an agile man of politics. From Franklin's progress as a self-declared "Briton"--serving as London agent for Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other colonies--to his evolution as an American (wartime minister to France, senior peace negotiator with Britain and, finally, senior participant at the Constitutional Convention), Brands, with admirable insight and arresting narrative, constructs a portrait of a complex and influential man ("only Washington mattered as much") in a highly charged world. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

In this new biography, Brands (history, Texas A&M Univ.; T.R.: The Last Romantic) sees Franklin's January 29, 1774 confrontation in Parliament with Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Rosslyn (1733-1805), as the formative moment in Benjamin Franklin's life. During those two hours in the "Cockpit," it was not just Wedderburn insulting Franklin, "it was also Britain mocking America." Franklin's story, as Brands sees and tells it, "is also the story of the birth of America--an America this man discovered in himself, then helped create in the world at large." Brands, a master storyteller himself, draws on letters to and by Franklin, as well as recollections of Franklin's contemporaries, to create an absorbing portrait of the 18th-century world that was the backdrop--and the stage--for America's multidimensional journalist, inventor, diplomat, propagandist, moralist, humorist, and revolutionary. Brands's eminently readable narrative is a worthy successor to Carl Van Doren's classic Pulitzer Prize-winning Benjamin Franklin. Recommended for public and academic libraries.--Robert C. Jones, Central Missouri State Univ., Warrensburg Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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