Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, Busy-Body: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, and Early Writings (Library of America) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), J. A. Leo Lemay (Editor)

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Product Description

Statesman, scientist, philosopher, printer, and civic leader, Benjamin Franklin was also the most powerful writer of his time. From his first appearance in print, in the guise of the eccentric, opinionated, voluble "Silence Dogood" (1722), to his last published article, a searing satire against slavery (1790), he covered every aspect of "the question of America" with radiant clarity, wit, and penetration.

This collection begins with items written by Franklin during his early years in Boston and London (1722- 1726), including the complete "Silence Dogood" essay series. The volume also includes the famous "Busy-Body" essays (1728-1729); many of the news articles and essays he penned after he purchased the failing Pennsylvania Gazette (which eventually became the most widely read newspaper in the colonies); and various political satires, pamphlets, and personal correspondence written while he lived in Philadelphia from 1726 to 1757. The book concludes with material he published while a diplomat in London from 1757 to 1775 (including letters to the press, satires, and pamphlets).

Controversial in his own time, and the subject of vigorous debate ever since-to Matthew Arnold he exemplified "victorious good sense," while to D. H. Lawrence he was "the first dummy American"-Franklin emerges in this collection as a figure of extraordinary complexity for readers to discover, consider, and appreciate anew.

A companion volume includes Poor Richard's Almanack, Franklin's classic Autobiography, and his later writings.

About the Author

J. A. Leo Lemay, editor of this volume, is professor of colonial literature at the University of Delaware. The author of numerous works on Franklin, including The Canon of Benjamin Franklin 1722-1776: New Attributions and Reconsiderations, he has edited The Oldest Revolutionary and (with P. M. Zall) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 823 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (October 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931082227
• ISBN-13: 978-1931082228
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #735,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The earlier writings of one of our nation's most important founders, November 24, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The wonderful Library of America (I hope all of you support it as well as buy their fabulous volumes) decided to split the 1,600 plus pages of their volume of the writings of Benjamin Franklin into two volumes. This first volume contains the earlier materials. It includes the famous Silence Dogood articles, the "Busy Body" essays, articles from his influential paper "The Pennsylvania Gazette", as well as other pamphlets, and miscellaneous writings. It concludes with some of the material he wrote while in London as a diplomat. My fear is that the second volume will be more popular because the material is more familiar. However, Franlin's earlier writings are quite important and should be read and valued just as highly.

Benjamin Franklin is one of the great icons of the American Founding. He is truly one of the essential men who built our nation and deserves every praise we can heap on him. When we see images of the founders, they are all shown as old men, not how old they were in 1776. Franklin was really a generation older than most of the firebrands who led the Revolution. He was seventy when he signed the Declaration of Independence (John Adams was 41, George Washington 44, and Thomas Jefferson 33 on July 4, 1776) and eighty-one when he signed our Constitution as a member of the delegation from Pennsylvania. He was an amazing man. He was a successful printer, inventor, philanthropist, revolutionary, diplomat, and all around student of the world.

This book is interesting to dip into and read just those portions that interest you, as well as reading its more than 800 pages front to back. It has great notes on the text that provide contextual and translation help as well as sources, a most interesting chronology of Franklin's long and productive life, and an index.

This certainly is a must have for your shelf on the history of America's Founding.