Benjamin Franklin

Description: Here is truly one of the most extraordinary lives imaginable, a man who, with only two years of formal education, became a printer, publisher, postmaster, philosopher, world-class scientist and inventor, statesman, musician, and abolitionist. Gaustad presents a chronological account of all these accomplishments, delightfully spiced with quotations from Franklin's own extensive writings. Written by a leading authority on colonial America, this compact biography captures in a remarkably small space one of the most protean lives in our nation's history.

Review Quotes: "An excellent introduction to this foremost founding father.... When all Franklin's accomplishments are set out as succinctly and fluently as Gaustad sets them out, what Shakespeares Cassius said of Caesar--'He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus'--appears eminently repeatable, sans sarcasm, about Franklin."--Booklist

"Edwin S. Gaustad's admirable brief life of Benjamin Franklin is written with grace and informed by a lifetime of close and thoughtful study of the American past. Perhaps our greatest historian of American religion, Gaustad deftly weaves together the many strands of Franklin's life and thought. In the process, he exemplifies Franklin's teaching: 'What is serving God? 'Tis doing Good to Man.'" --R. B. Bernstein, author of Thomas Jefferson

"Edwin Gaustad has written a short life of Benjamin Franklin that is rich in detail and insight. Here is Franklin on his way up in Pennsylvania, the public-spirited craftsman and businessman, the pragmatist whose ideas do not exceed his grasp, the insightful politician, the imaginative scientist, and the shrewd diplomat. The whole story of his life is told with sophistication in a book that is a joy to read." --Robert Middlekauff, author of The Glorious Cause