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Franklin: The Essential Founding Father
Historian and biographer James Srodes tells Benjamin Franklin's incredible life story, making full use of the previously neglected Franklin papers to provide the most riveting account yet of the journalist, scientist, polilician, and unlikely adventurer. From London, Paris, Philadelphia to his numerous romantic liaisons, Franklin's life becomes a panorama of dramatic history.
450 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 26, 2021
Franklin is one of the most fascinating characters in American history. This biography is well-written and informative.
October 1, 2008
This was an interesting book. Not in the same league as Adams by McCullough.
February 4, 2018
James Strodes has given us a very readable and balanced biography of this great man. Franklin was no angel; his family life was a shambles while he kept busy working on behalf of his country. His wife wouldn’t cross the ocean so when he went to Britain as ambassador, she was left at home for the last several years of her life; he didn’t even make it back when he learned she was dying. His son became governor of New Jersey and refused to join the rebellion, so Franklin pretty much disowned him. Some of his methods may have been questionable along the way, but I don’t think his loyalty to America ever wavered. We see Franklin as a restless, driven man—brilliant, well-spoken, constantly in search of more learning. He loved Great Britain and France and hobnobbed with the great minds of his time. Where Franklin went, people payed attention. Alas, like any man in the forefront of politics he had his enemies, and during the first half of the book he struggled against his nemesis Thomas Penn (son of William Penn), proprietor of the Pennsylvania colony.
We spend so much energy on the Revolution that we sometimes forget how we got there. After all, when Franklin went to London for his first “special mission”, he was already fifty-one years old. The French and Indian war was still going on, so the colonies had much more immediate worries than resisting the British; there was no thought of revolution in 1757. I found this period particularly interesting, as it illuminated the little-known struggle in Britain between American agents and the government. Thomas Penn spent most of his life in England, and he constantly thwarted Pennsylvanians’ efforts to raise their own militia and defend themselves. “It was not at all clear that colonial assemblies could tax against their will those who held proprietary charters for land in North America”, among whom Thomas Penn was one. He most decidedly did not want his lands to be taxed, yet his contribution was crucial to the colony’s defense. It seems that his confrontations with Franklin became very personal.
Of course, by the 1770s the Government started leaning on the Americans and taxing them to help pay for the French & Indian war. The Boston Massacre took place in 1770, the same year Massachusetts appointed Franklin as their representative. As time went on and Franklin represented more colonies, he became more and more disruptive to Parliament. There came a day when he was finally “put in his place” and publicly—and personally—abused as a scapegoat for the Boston Tea Party. It was the beginning of the end for him in Britain, and after the better part of eighteen years he returned to America. At his age, even now, most of us would be ready to retire. But we are only a little more than halfway through the book and he has yet to face the Continental Congress and Louis XVI, where he successfully negotiated for funding and troops. That part of his history is better known, and this book does a fine job depicting his challenging accomplishments while struggling with gout and the rest of his old age ailments.
We spend so much energy on the Revolution that we sometimes forget how we got there. After all, when Franklin went to London for his first “special mission”, he was already fifty-one years old. The French and Indian war was still going on, so the colonies had much more immediate worries than resisting the British; there was no thought of revolution in 1757. I found this period particularly interesting, as it illuminated the little-known struggle in Britain between American agents and the government. Thomas Penn spent most of his life in England, and he constantly thwarted Pennsylvanians’ efforts to raise their own militia and defend themselves. “It was not at all clear that colonial assemblies could tax against their will those who held proprietary charters for land in North America”, among whom Thomas Penn was one. He most decidedly did not want his lands to be taxed, yet his contribution was crucial to the colony’s defense. It seems that his confrontations with Franklin became very personal.
Of course, by the 1770s the Government started leaning on the Americans and taxing them to help pay for the French & Indian war. The Boston Massacre took place in 1770, the same year Massachusetts appointed Franklin as their representative. As time went on and Franklin represented more colonies, he became more and more disruptive to Parliament. There came a day when he was finally “put in his place” and publicly—and personally—abused as a scapegoat for the Boston Tea Party. It was the beginning of the end for him in Britain, and after the better part of eighteen years he returned to America. At his age, even now, most of us would be ready to retire. But we are only a little more than halfway through the book and he has yet to face the Continental Congress and Louis XVI, where he successfully negotiated for funding and troops. That part of his history is better known, and this book does a fine job depicting his challenging accomplishments while struggling with gout and the rest of his old age ailments.
March 9, 2019
A well written and easy to read, though somewhat glossy portrayal of Benjamin Franklin's life story making full use of the previously neglected Franklin papers to present an account of the journalist, scientist, politician and adventurer.
What I found interesting was the overlap between this bio and the John Adams (John Adams by David McCullough) one I finished recently. Both authors must have used similar documents. In general Franklin’s glossed over Adams while Adams’ had more detailed accounts of Franklin. In BF’s, it was almost as though JA was minor figure who didn’t do a lot (he actually did a lot) while in JA’s, it was Franklin who didn’t do a lot and JA who did all the work.
What I found interesting was the overlap between this bio and the John Adams (John Adams by David McCullough) one I finished recently. Both authors must have used similar documents. In general Franklin’s glossed over Adams while Adams’ had more detailed accounts of Franklin. In BF’s, it was almost as though JA was minor figure who didn’t do a lot (he actually did a lot) while in JA’s, it was Franklin who didn’t do a lot and JA who did all the work.
November 14, 2012
Franklin is a pretty good read. It is a good, solid biography about Ben Franklin that shows the regular ins and outs of his life, such as little known facts all the way up to his views on slavery. It also shows how Franklin got France and Spain involved after the battle of Saratoga. Anybody who likes history a lot would really enjoy this.
Since it is a biography, there isn't as much of a theme as there is a subject. The subject is mostly Ben Franklin's view on different ideas - he lived a very interesting life. He had many surprising opinions before the war,such as his views on slavery, which followed the racist views of the time period until much later during the Revolution. "Franklin a racist? Yes. Like nearly every Anglo-American he didn't see the humanity in the Africans. [His] evolution in the most prominent anti-slavery activist was decades away" (Srodes 109). I think Srodes was successful in getting across Franklin's life story.
Srodes has also done a few other biographies on Allen Dulles and John DeLorean. He has seemingly tried to establish himself as a biographic author.
All in all, Franklin was a successful book that gave a solid description about Ben Franklin and his life, as well as his ideas. It is a good read for anyone who likes to read about the American Revolution era in the US.
Since it is a biography, there isn't as much of a theme as there is a subject. The subject is mostly Ben Franklin's view on different ideas - he lived a very interesting life. He had many surprising opinions before the war,such as his views on slavery, which followed the racist views of the time period until much later during the Revolution. "Franklin a racist? Yes. Like nearly every Anglo-American he didn't see the humanity in the Africans. [His] evolution in the most prominent anti-slavery activist was decades away" (Srodes 109). I think Srodes was successful in getting across Franklin's life story.
Srodes has also done a few other biographies on Allen Dulles and John DeLorean. He has seemingly tried to establish himself as a biographic author.
All in all, Franklin was a successful book that gave a solid description about Ben Franklin and his life, as well as his ideas. It is a good read for anyone who likes to read about the American Revolution era in the US.
July 18, 2008
These Franklin biographies are just amazing. I am stunned by how many of my teachers managed to make this rich material SO freakin' boring. And Franklin... well, the most amazing thing is that he ended up on "our" side at all.
The three I am reading are;
Franklin: the Essential Founding Father by James Srodes
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood
The Most Dangerous Man in America - Scenes From the Life of Benjamin Franklin by Bowen
and while I'm sure the new Isaacson bio is terrific it's Amazon description screams populist re-hashing whereas these three all have intellectual axes to grind and are just fascinating. They always tell you in school how unlikely the success of the American Revolution was but these books really underscore not only the fact that we really pulled one out of our asses militarily but also how intellectually fierce some of these guys were. NONE moreso than Franklin.
For instance - did YOU know that Franklin wrote under *** 90 *** different pseudonyms in the papers of the times to make his points and get his arguments over? And most of them were in different authorial voices (male and female) to suit his market and argument? You know, while he wasn't inventing shit and making himself rich.
The three I am reading are;
Franklin: the Essential Founding Father by James Srodes
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood
The Most Dangerous Man in America - Scenes From the Life of Benjamin Franklin by Bowen
and while I'm sure the new Isaacson bio is terrific it's Amazon description screams populist re-hashing whereas these three all have intellectual axes to grind and are just fascinating. They always tell you in school how unlikely the success of the American Revolution was but these books really underscore not only the fact that we really pulled one out of our asses militarily but also how intellectually fierce some of these guys were. NONE moreso than Franklin.
For instance - did YOU know that Franklin wrote under *** 90 *** different pseudonyms in the papers of the times to make his points and get his arguments over? And most of them were in different authorial voices (male and female) to suit his market and argument? You know, while he wasn't inventing shit and making himself rich.
March 22, 2015
- First of the founding fathers biographies that does a good job of pointing out that the British were not entirely unreasonable in their taxation requests.
- Balanced view of Franklin - doesn't gloss over some of this less admirable traits or behaviors
- Did a good job of illustrating how and why someone like Franklin went from working for a solution that would keep the colonies as a part of Great Britain to working for independence
- Did not like the narrator's "accent" when quoting Franklin or another of the founding fathers.
- There are probably more thorough biographies out there (ie Carl Van Doren's), but this was a good overall choice.
- Balanced view of Franklin - doesn't gloss over some of this less admirable traits or behaviors
- Did a good job of illustrating how and why someone like Franklin went from working for a solution that would keep the colonies as a part of Great Britain to working for independence
- Did not like the narrator's "accent" when quoting Franklin or another of the founding fathers.
- There are probably more thorough biographies out there (ie Carl Van Doren's), but this was a good overall choice.
August 31, 2014
In my humble opinion, this is the only true biography worthy of Franklin. Mr. Srodes pushes aside the myths introducing you to the true leader that was Franklin. He doesn't shy from pointing out the faults of past biographies while keeping to the real history of this man of brilliance. Great Read!!!
August 17, 2012
Great biography of Franklin in which Srodes excels at summarizing the intricate relationships Franklin had woven abroad in Britain and France. A great read if you don't want to read a bunch of books on the greatest founding father.
March 1, 2008
Ben Franklin was a high achiever - diplomat, inventor and publisher. I never read a book about him. He also travelled across the Atlantic several times.
June 5, 2008
The life and times of Ben Franklin. A man of many great and seemingly impossible accomplishments.
May 22, 2009
This was a solid biography of Benjamin Franklin but not spectacular. It was a very interesting era of American history so I found it easy to get through.
Currently reading
July 11, 2010Great read
June 5, 2011
I appreciate the details behind the legend of one of the greatest Americans. This biography flows well and well worth the read.
wishlist
August 31, 2011I would like this when it comes out in the Kindle Edition.
February 23, 2015
I enjoyed this book. Fairly easy to read and very informative about Ben Franklin's entire life.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews