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Edmund S. Morgan

Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene S) Paperback – Illustrated, September 24, 2003

by Edmund S. Morgan (Author)

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A New York Times Bestseller, a 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and a Washington Post Book World, Publisher’s Weekly, and Los Angeles Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

“Superb. . . . The best short biography of Franklin ever written.”—Gordon Wood, New York Review of Books

“None rivals Morgan’s study for its grasp of Franklin’s character.”—Joseph J. Ellis, London Review of Books

Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the most remarkable figure in American history: the greatest statesman of his age, he played a pivotal role in the formation of the American republic. He was also a pioneering scientist, a bestselling author, the country’s first postmaster general, a printer, a bon vivant, a diplomat, a ladies’ man, and a moralist—and the most prominent celebrity of the eighteenth century.

Franklin was, however, a man of vast contradictions, as Edmund Morgan demonstrates in this brilliant biography. A reluctant revolutionary, Franklin had desperately wished to preserve the British Empire, and he mourned the break even as he led the fight for American independence. Despite his passion for science, Franklin viewed his groundbreaking experiments as secondary to his civic duties. And although he helped to draft both the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, he had personally hoped that the new American government would take a different shape. Unraveling the enigma of Franklin’s character, Morgan shows that he was the rare individual who consistently placed the public interest before his own desires.

Written by one of our greatest historians and a Pulitzer Prize winner, Benjamin Franklin offers a provocative portrait of America’s most extraordinary patriot.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

September 24, 2003
Dimensions

7.82 x 5.04 x 0.88 inches
ISBN-10

0300101627
ISBN-13

978-0300101621
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This best-selling biography has been praised for its accessibility and the author's almost exclusive reliance upon Franklin's own . . ."-"American History"

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

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; Illustrated edition (September 24, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300101627
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300101621
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.82 x 5.04 x 0.88 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #511,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,397 in Scientist Biographies
- #3,749 in Political Leader Biographies
- #8,552 in United States Biographies

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Phillip41

A psychological evaluation of Franklin

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2019

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Here Dr. Morgan makes a noble attempt, through Franklin's exhaustive collection of correspondence and other papers, to construct a psychological profile of the man as he may have been known to his contemporaries. In the end, he doesn't really achieve his aim, but realizes his shortcomings based on the likely volume of destroyed correspondence missing from our records. It is an easy, enjoyable read, and is not merely "plowing old ground", but rather offering some new insights into the character of the man.

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Roger D. Launius

An Outstanding Book by an Outstanding Historian

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2013

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Benjamin Franklin is one of the first rank “founding fathers,” along with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington. But he was strikingly different from all of them. He was scientifically curious and accomplished—even more so than Jefferson—politically astute, fabulously extroverted, and culturally sophisticated. He was well-known throughout Europe and just as comfortable in the salons of Paris as at society gatherings in London. He was also a rake and a rambler, flirtatious, and far removed from the buttoned-down reverence for the founders that most in modern America believe was the case.

This biography of Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan is a masterpiece by a master historian. Born in 1916, Morgan has been a major force in the study of colonial/Revolutionary War history since the 1950s. I read his work while an undergraduate in the 1970s and have kept up with his major books since that time. While in his 80s, Morgan published this Franklin biography, the product of a lifetime of research, thought, and analysis. What he offers here is a broad portrait of the sage of Philadelphia, a true product of the Enlightenment who epitomized the virtues of reason and rationality.

At sum, Morgan’s "Benjamin Franklin" is an introduction to a fascinating character elucidated in a little more than 300 pages. Rising from a common apprenticeship as a printer in Boston, Franklin migrated to Philadelphia as a young man, gained wealth and fame as a printer, especially "Poor Richard’s Almanac," and turned his attention to many other interests, especially experimentation in electricity, creation of many different voluntary associations for fire, insurance, and library operations. He spent many years in Europe, especially England, and was certainly comfortable there. His fame as a naturalist/scientist led to his receiving an honorary doctorate from St. Andrews, and then his attaching the Dr. rather than Mr. to his name ever after. He married, had children, and presumably enjoyed a good relationship with his wife, they lived apart much of the time and he certainly enjoyed flirtations and more with many other women.

Franklin wrote much, even an autobiography which has been required reading in my history and literature classes ever since, and Morgan makes the most of this treasure trove of source documents, distilling a life of letters into a stunning narrative. At the same time, and Morgan admits this periodically in the telling of Franklin’s story, that Franklin obscures as much as he elaborates through his extensive writings. He fails to illuminate his relationships, his many intrigues both political and licentious, and his machinations in representing the cause of “American Empire.”

It is in this last arena that Morgan concentrates, appropriately so, since it was the dominant theme in the last decades of Franklin’s life. Beginning in the 1750s Franklin sought to create what was essentially an “Anglo-American Empire” with a union of individual colonies into a stronger continental entity. He took an approach that had served him well previously, allowing others to take center stage in the effort while he maneuvered in the background. The Albany Plan was the result of this effort, and while it failed many of the ideas in it would reemerge in the crisis of empire that led to the American Revolution of the 1770s. By then, Franklin had decided that the “American Empire” could not include an “Anglo” component and he pressed for the severing of governmental relations with England.

He spent the rest of his life working for the success of the United States. He served in the Second Continental Congress, was a member of the committee that oversaw the writing of the Declaration of Independence, traveled to France to work toward an alliance to defeat the British, was a key negotiator in the Treaty of Paris granting U.S. sovereignty, engaged in diplomacy and intrigue in Europe for several years thereafter, and returned to America in time to serve as an elder statesman in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. In essence, Franklin played a key role in every Machiavellian twist and turn in the gaining of American independence, sometimes those twists proved successful and sometimes not so much. Regardless, Franklin’s fingerprints were all over every aspect of them.

I found Morgan’s admissions about Franklin compelling: “Intellectual curiosity is one of the rarest gifts and...he was just loaded with curiosity. He never took things for granted.” At another point Morgan concludes, and I think appropriately so: “He is the most modern of all the Founding Fathers, the oldest in years but the youngest in outlook. He takes you by surprise.”

That is not so much the case for Edmund S. Morgan; we know that anything by him is outstanding. I have to tell this story: a week before I was to take my comprehensive exams for my Ph.D. in history, my advisor asked me to name the three great historians of colonial American whose names began with “M.” I sputtered for moment and made no serious answer, in part because of the trivial nature of the question, but he wanted me to say Edmund S. Morgan, Samuel Elliot Morison, and Perry Miller. It is books like this that only add to that reputation. It is an excellent biography of a truly astonishing character.

5 people found this helpful

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Theresa

Ben Franklin short biography

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2010

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This book is presented so well. The author finds Franklin as a teenager in Philadelphia not sure of where he's going or what he's doing. He takes us through Franklin's early scientific studies and into his life as a printer. Franklin loved the idea of an Anglo-American empire and fought stallwartly for that end. He wined and dined with the highest high-brows in London trying to facillitate that end and finally came home to help write the Declaration of Independence when the Britons didn't see the value of his ideas. They were more inclined to taxation without representation and as we know that did not work out well for them in the end.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Benjamim Franklin and/or the events of political, colonial America prior to the American Revolution.

One person found this helpful

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Joni

Ben

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

Not as good as others. Too many details

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igor dumbadze

...fascinating man....

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was an assigned book for a college level course on the American Revolution; a fascinating, well written book! Enjoyed reading it! Wonderful introduction to an absolutely fascinating man!

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Genna Brown

There are better ones out there

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

I've been reading bios of our founding fathers and I'm sure I can find another more engaging one on Franklin. This one seems very dry to me and the subject is anything but dry.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book wasn't bad. There is a lot of great information about Franklin and interesting stories that included other founding fathers.

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2015

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Item exactly as described. Thank you!

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Top reviews from other countries

C

Not a biography, rather: a badly written history of the American revolution

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

The central problem is that this book is not the story of Benjamin Franklin - it is the story of American independence, told locally from the perspective of Benjamin Franklin. For this reason, it is disappointing.

Whilst the early chapters have some interesting stories and good analysis of Benjamin Franklin as a person, and whilst the final chapters have a small sprinkling of his character, the vast majority of the book is a "he did, they did, he did, they did" pitter patter that tells us little about Benjamin Franklin. This needn't have been the case, but the author has a tedious attitude of sycophantic adulation. As the biography writes it, Benjamin Franklin is surrounded by bumbling fools who love him but needs his constant gentle guidance and fools who oppose him. Given the complexity of the issues involved, his opponents are done a particular disservice.

Ultimately, the biographical portrayal is paper thin and an opportunity for a fascinating first person view of history lost. Disappointing.

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