Customer Reviews

The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (Volume Two: 1757-1790)

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This is one of those books you just don't want to end. You treasure every nuance and anecdote. The work that Dr. Skousen must have put into it to coordinate the needed material from hundreds of thousands of pages of Franklin's writings -- what a feat of scholarship! Very impressive.

The trick was to make it read like an actual autobiography, which Skousen has pulled off. To do this, the project must have been akin to Spielberg shooting the scenes of one of his famous movies and then putting it all together in the cutting room. You are swept up in Franklin the man, his ingenious mind, his multifarious views, his contemporaries' personalities, and his country's hopes. Franklin is telling you his story with his inimitable persona, but Skousen has orchestrated it, and superbly so.

There is a mesmerizing quality to the book that lures you in, which surely is due to the quality of Franklin's lofty character; but also due to the way that his writing has been compiled into an enthralling story.

There are some startling revelations scattered throughout. Good old Ben talks rather openly on certain subjects and certain people. I will leave the details of such revelations to the reader's perusal. But this tome is well worth the price. It is a book that you will return to repeatedly to savor Franklin's pithy observations.

The man was rife with philosophical wisdom and a myriad of inventive talents, undoubtedly one of those souls that was wise at an early age. He had a very balanced view of life and a most engaging personality that made him loved by all American patriots as well as the English and the French people.

But this lovableness of the sage Doctor did not prohibit him from taking an unyielding stand upon principle when called for. He was outspokenly honest to those he felt were being deceitful, or unpatriotic, or stupid and shortsighted. The man spoke his mind to the world around him. This makes for a very appealing character to delve into. And Skousen captures just this combination with his weaving of the literary output that Franklin left us.

The Franklin image that emerges is that of a fascinating Renaissance man, an American Da Vinci who understood that the pursuit of worldly success without the acquiring of moral virtue could never end well.

We owe a great debt to Mark Skousen for the "compleating" of Franklin's legendary autobiography. This literary gem belongs in every American's home. Patriotism for our country and its original vision of life just got a new lease on legitimacy and desirability.

Dr. Skousen, a descendent of Franklin, has done everyone a great favor by collecting the rest of Franklin's autobiographical writings in one place. This book is incredibly well-crafted. Skousen clearly spent many hours pouring over Franklin's writings and papers choosing the most exemplary from the thousands of pages available. Then he masterfully edits the texts to make them accessible to the modern reader without losing Franklin's voice. This takes not only skill but love. Skousen clearly loves Franklin and brings Franklin's fascinating life and legacy to all readers. Franklin was our most versatile and resourceful founding father and his life lessons still resonate today. This book is for anyone who wishes to have a deeper, fuller understanding of American history.

Benjamin Franklin is one of those most rare historical figures who retain a sense of immediacy and relevance to every subsequent generation. As I read his writings, I am reminded on each page of his immense intellectual gifts, his endless curiosity, and his ability to observe things in the sharpest detail. Franklin's writings fill many volumes and a library could be filled with just books about this very important American. With all that, does this book make a significant enough contribution to warrant your purchasing and reading it? I answer with an emphatic YES!

Franklin worked on his memoirs at different periods in his life beginning in 1771. While a Colonial Agent in England, he was staying at Bishop Jonathan Shipley's house and wrote Part I there when he was 65 years old. It covers his life from his birth in 1706 to 1730. Part II of his autobiography was written in Paris in 1784 when he was the American minister to France. Part II includes his famous list of virtues. Part III covers the years 1732-57 and was written in 1788 when Franklin was 82. Part IV is only a few pages long and not all editions include this portion. It was written over a few months in late 1789 through March 1790 - shortly before Franklin's death. You can, and should, pick up any number of editions of the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I particularly like the volume prepared by the Library of America and it has all four portions.

This volume was prepared by one of Franklin's descendents, Mark Skousen. The author of the words included in this volume, though, is Benjamin Franklin. Skousen has done a masterful job of taking us from 1757 through 1787 and Franklin's last will and testament of 1788. As an editor, Skousen has shown his attention to Franklin's style and purpose of what was included in the parts of the autobiography that Franklin wrote. Franklin was aware of his public stature and, while quite frank, included things to edify others, in particular youth, rather than to satisfy the curiosity of gossips or to give satisfaction to his enemies. Skousen has made each page of this book a delight because of the portion of Franklin's writings he does include.

We see him as a diplomat, as a philosopher and thinker, as a socialite, a revolutionary, and as a private person with family concerns. While you will still want to read at least a couple of the better biographies of Franklin as well as the complete autobiography prepared by Franklin, this compleated version is a great service to those of us interested in the man and his life in his own words and from his own perspective.

Please, get yourself a copy. You will enjoy it very much.

Franklin never sat down with the intent to write an autobiography covering the last 33 years of his life, and yet this book presents all the practical wit, wisdom, humor and love and lust for life he experienced in those years in his own words. It is hard to believe that Mr. Skousen compiled this work from volumes upon volumes of Franklin's writings, which include letters, essays and dictation to his grandson. This is no patchwork of letters and essays. It is a very well constructed account of Franklin's thoughts and experiences from 1757-1790 in his own words, and there is no other way we would get that without each and every one of us poring over thousands of documents. Thank you, Mark Skousen, for doing all the dirty work and giving us such an easy-to-read compilation. As the narrator of the audiobook, I was particularly impressed by the work's fluency. It is highly entertaining, extremely informative and very readable.

This is history, important to Americans, from a participant point of view. You will learn things about the American Revolution that will greatly surprise you. Franklin was not only a crafty, intuitive statesman but a renaissance man long after the era ended in Europe. The most engaging aspect of the work is the human behind the legend.

This was truly fascinating getting the insights of Benjamin Franklin. What is a amazing, is the futuristic thinking of Mr. Franklin. His guess that humans would eventually defy gravity and live much older ages and eradicating disease (just amazing). The mention of innoculation of his grandson for small pox. And his thoughts on economics and trade relations were really something, as if he were a modern economist. After reading this book, I am truly in awe and it cannot compare to anything from a high school or college history book...Amazing!!

The "rest of the story" puts into a human context the facinating story of one of our truly american originals. Mr. Skousen has ingeniously allowed BF to tell his story in a highly readable and entertaining way. Well done!

Brilliant choice of Franklin letters and papers -- organized by time and place -- to make a fascinating, and very readable story of Franklin's later years.

Mark Skousen performed a real labor of love when he searched through the voluminous Franklin letters and files to find the material needed to finish the incomplete Autobiography. Thus we have here,all in Franklin's own words, a unique literary achievement. There isn't anything like it on the market.

I gave this as a gift to my mother. My father read it cover to cover and enjoyed it and my mother is in the process of doing so. It is written in an older style and can be a bit dry, but history buffs (my parents) are really enjoying it.