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 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. Just as David McCullough brought life to the historic figure of John Adams, Isaacson portrays Franklin in the flesh, showing readers how this radical man helped define America's national character and personality.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.īenjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. Isaacson examines the run up to the Revolutionary War, the intimate relations between Britain, France and the colonies and the decisive events that led to America's independence. Read more just a biography of Benjamin Franklin but rather a fascinating look at American and European political history at that time.

In this riveting new biography Walter Isaacson provides readers with a full portrait of Franklin's public and private life - his loyal but neglected wife, his bastard son with whom he broke over going to war with England, his endless replacement families and his many amorous, but probably unconsummated, liaisons. America's first great publicist, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public and polished it for posterity. He was also one of its most practical political thinkers. During his 84-year life Benjamin Franklin was America's best scientist, inventor, publisher, business strategist, diplomat, and writer. BIC Classification: 1KBB 3JF BGH HBJK HBLL. Rescuing Franklin from the cliche of the genial codger, the bestselling author of KISSINGER celebrates the most advanced and earthy of the founding fathers in a riveting biography that brings Benjamin Franklin to life. Description for Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Paperback.

Benjamin franklin an american life book