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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Compact disc - 2003

by Walter Isaacson; Read by Boyd Gaines


Summary

Benjamin Franklin is the Founding Father who winks at us. An ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings, he seems made of flesh rather than of marble. In bestselling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin seems to turn to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. By bringing Franklin to life, Isaacson shows how he helped to define both his own time and ours.
He was, during his 84-year life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical -- though not most profound -- political thinkers. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity, and he invented a rod to tame it. He sought practical ways to make stoves less smoky and commonwealths less corrupt. He organized neighborhood constabularies and international alliances, local lending libraries and national legislatures. He combined two types of lenses to create bifocals and two concepts of representation to foster the nation's federal compromise. He was the only man who shaped all the founding documents of America: the Albany Plan of Union, the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the peace treaty with England, and the Constitution. And he helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor, democratic values, and philosophical pragmatism.
But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.
Through it all, he trusted the hearts and minds of his fellow "leather-aprons" more than he did those of any inbred elite. He saw middle-class values as a source of social strength, not as something to be derided. His guiding principle was a "dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people." Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.
In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. He chronicles Franklin's tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris. He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

From the publisher

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. Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. 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. 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 this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

Details

  • Title Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
  • Author Walter Isaacson; Read by Boyd Gaines
  • Binding Compact Disc
  • Edition Abridged
  • Volumes 6
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio, Riverside, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 2003-07-01
  • Abridged Yes
  • ISBN 9780743533652 / 0743533658
  • Weight 0.3 lbs (0.14 kg)
  • Dimensions 5.2 x 5.7 x 0.8 in (13.21 x 14.48 x 2.03 cm)
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2004568186
  • Dewey Decimal Code B
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Isaacson, Walter

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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by Isaacson, Walter

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Isaacson, Walter

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Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Isaacson, Walter

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Isaacson, Walter

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Walter Isaacson

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