Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene) [Paperback]

Edmund S. Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Yale Nota Bene | Publication Date: September 24, 2003

The greatest statesman of his age, Benjamin Franklin was also a pioneering scientist, a successful author, the first American postmaster general, a printer and a bon vivant. In addition, he was a man of vast contradictions. This biography offers a compact and provocative portrait of America's most extraordinary patriot.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Excellent. . . . Sublime. . . . [An] illuminating portrait of a quintessential, and perennially contemporary, American spirit. -- Malcolm Jones, Newsweek

[An] excellent portrait . . . by the distinguished Yale historian Edmund Morgan. -- Jay Tolson, U.S. News and World Report

From the Publisher

Chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and as a best book for 2002 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and Publishers Weekly, A finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography, A New York Times Bestseller

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1st PAPERBACK edition (September 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300101627
• ISBN-13: 978-0300101621
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Franklin, Benjamin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars biography of a leader, October 5, 2003

By 

I. Tysoe "Inna Tysoe" (Earth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

We hear about many people nowadays who are called "leaders of this or that people"; this is a biography of a man who really was a leader of a people and as such, it is good to read this short and critically-acclaimed biography to discover what a people's leader is.

In these pages, Benjamin Franklin emerges as a man who "did as much as any to shape the world he and" his contemporaries lived. Here we see a person who throughout his life sought to determine what was in the public interest and who then tried to persuade the people to act for their own good. But he never tried to place what he thought good "above what they did". Furthermore, he never tried to gain even adequate compensation for his long and hard years as a public servant because he believed that private property was not a natural but a society-given right and that society should therefore see to it that no-one had too much wealth.

This, of course, is not a view often associated with the author of the Poor Man's Almanac-even though he held this opinion since at least 1750 when he wrote that "what we have above what we can use, is not properly ours, tho' we possess it." Yet it is a view that we in a time littered with corrupt politicians who steal several million here and a billion there; who impose their idea of what is good on a people who as often as not are forced to obey or be killed; in a time when these thugs are yet called "leaders", might do well to recall.

For here in a little over 300 pages we have a portrait of a true leader. A man who spoke little, listened a lot, and who led Americans to independence (although he would have personally preferred a British Empire of Equals). It would be good for us to remember this man for we live in a time when the men we call leaders are often anything but. Yet, perhaps when we recognize what makes a true leader we will once again have them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, March 31, 2004

By 

bill runyon (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

This is both a fascinating book, and it is about one of the
most fascinating subjects, Benjamin Franklin.
The book is a little on the short side, but the author explains
he kept it a bit limited in scope on purpose. He intends for
it to be readable,and he wants to concentrate on Franklin's public service; plus, he tends to focus on his overseas assignments on behalf of the 13 Colonies, as well as his later
service on behalf of the new United States.
No hero of our Revolution is more complex and diverse than
Franklin, and his public service far exceeds that of any other
of the Founders. We tend to forget how old Franklin was at the
time of some of his greatest service. After nearly 10 years in
England, trying to pursuade the English authorities in Parliament of the wisdom of keeping their American colonies within the British Empire by giving them equal status in that
Empire, and finally failing, he returned home to Philadelphia.
And the next day, he was elected to the Second Continental Congress.
As he entered the State House in Philadelphia to begin his term
in that Congress, it is noted that he served in that same building years before in the colonial assembly. And when he
served in the colonial government, some of the greatest of Founders weren't born yet; at that time, for example, Patrick
Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock and John Adams had not even been born. Franklin served all those years, and as the
Revolution was progressing, and he was in his 70s, the new government sent him to France to procure loans and to negotiate
treaties with France to help in their fight for Independence.
That he succeeded is evident, and he spent several years in France serving his new country.
The book reveals, in very interesting detail, that Franklin was
so revered and so respected in England, that while he was living
there, fighting for better understanding by Parliament, he was
blamed for everything that was happening in the Colonies. When
an assembly in Bostom forwarded new demands to King George III,
which inflamed Parliament, the Solicitor General called Franklin
the "great director" of those events and demands. The author
very nicely points out that the probably author of those demands
from Bostom, Samuel Adams, needed no direction from Franklin on
how to inflame independence passions.
When the Boston Tea Party took place in Boston harbor, in protest against Parliament's tax on imported tea, the Secretary

for Colonial Affairs told Parliament the whole affair looked
like it came from "...the Franklin school of politics."
About that time, Franklin's English friends advised him he was
facing arrest, and many were afraid for his physical safety.
But he continued doing his job for the Colonies, and although
he met with much frustration in dealing with British authorities, he never wavered in his efforts to help the Colonies.
Franklin showed style, energy, and he exercised more diplomacy
in both England and France than we can imagine, and this author
does a nice job of pointing out his efforts and accomplishments.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What could have been..., January 18, 2009

By 

The Jared V. Show (Outside Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

I approached this book with great expectations, the title alone offers the reader a hope of something gained, something learned from such a landmark individual. It will disappoint if this is your expectation, however it will also keep you reading. I finished this book, despite my difficulty in finishing most books. Morgan's writing can be extremely cluttered at times, using double-negatives again and again so that you re-read the same sentence three times to make sure you understand what he means. Instead of using periods he employs commas, to the dismay of a reader who can only hold the theme of the sentence in mind for so long. I have to imagine there were books better written about Franklin, but if you decide on this one, you will still walk away with a remarkable image of the man. It's like a college survey course, if you are truly interested, there is more in-depth material out there for you to explore. Just don't expect this book to cover Franklin and his achievements in a complete way, it's not the intent of the author.