The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin

by Gordon S. Wood

From the most respected chronicler of the early days of the Republic and winner of both the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes comes a landmark work that rescues Benjamin Franklin from a mythology that has blinded generations of Americans to the man he really was and makes sense of aspects of his life and career that would have otherwise remained mysterious. In place of the genial polymath, self-improver, and quintessential American, Gordon S. Wood reveals a figure much more ambiguous and complex and much more interesting. Charting the passage of Franklin’s life and reputation from relative popular indifference (his death, while the occasion for mass mourning in France, was widely ignored in America) to posthumous glory, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin sheds invaluable light on the emergence of our country’s idea of itself.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, American Revolution, Politics, Biography Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Gordon Stewart Wood is an American historian and professor at Brown University. He is a recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992). His book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969) won the 1970 Bancroft Prize. In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

Reviews

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I find Benjamin Franklin especially compelling (and maybe, perhaps, even a little bit sexy…fur caps and gout are hot, especially in tandem) because we, by random chance and against 365-to-1 odds, share a birthday?

Absolutely not—that’s ridiculous, and I resent that you would even imply such a silly reason for…

Okay, okay—fine. Yes, when I was a wee lad, I initially became interested in Benjamin Franklin because we were both born on January 17. Come on—I was eight; that’s a cool thing for an eight-year-old to discover. A dorky eight-year-old, granted. Because I’m guessing that most eight-year-olds don’t get fired up about Ben Franklin, or his birthday (then again, most eight-year-olds probably don’t walk around saying to people, “I collect spores, molds, and fungus” in an effort to emulate Egon Spengler…I was an unusual child).

Still, I think it’s fair to say that my interest was warranted by the unique nature of the man himself—printer, entrepreneur, writer, philosopher, inventor, scientist, diplomat, politician, spinner of folksy wisdom, romancer of French ladies, closet narcissist, inspiration for Puff Daddy songs—who, as Wood contends, was, and remains, in many ways the most symbolically American of Americans.

You’ll want to look elsewhere for a thorough account of Franklin’s life (you can’t go wrong with Walter Isaacson’s excellent Benjamin Franklin: An American Life) or his diplomatic mission to France, which Wood suggests made Franklin second only to Washington in terms of his importance to the successful outcome of the revolution (see Stacey Schiff’s dynamite A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America for wonderful account of that endeavor). What you get here is an exploration of what made Franklin, despite the fact that he was ignored, if not outright loathed, by a plurality of those in power in the nascent United States at the time of his death, the most famous American of his era and, posthumously, the man who most epitomized the very American notion of the “self-made” man.

(Was the preceding paragraph, with references to other mammoth tomes of Franklinian scholarship and words like “nascent,” “plurality,” and “posthumously,” the most egregiously obnoxious and replete-with-douche-baggery paragraph I’ve written in a review in a long time? Well, no, because I always write obnoxious paragraphs in reviews, and am essentially a walking bag of douche. But, it was pretty obnoxious. I blame climate change.)

One of the most interesting aspects of Franklin is that, unlike most of the other Founding Fathers, who were in the strapping flower of their respective youths or only just hitting the back nine of their prime years, he had, by the standards of the era, lived an entire lifetime prior to becoming as committed a patriot as existed in the embryonic republic. With a multitude of brothers and sisters in line before him to partake of a meager inheritance, Franklin set off from Boston at the tender age of 16, bound for Philadelphia, where he quickly established himself as a printer non pareil, a tradesman who distinguished himself from other members of the working class with his prodigious intellect, rapier wit, and ceaseless industry. In pulling himself up by his metaphorical boot straps and earning such an impressive fortune that he was able to retire to the life of a gentleman by middle age (a distinction that held considerable meaning in a society where upward social mobility was neither common nor viewed as an admirable aspiration), and it was that dedication to the spirit of commerce and amassment of wealth that has made Franklin an iconic figure to entrepreneurs the world over in the centuries since he shuffled off the mortal coil.

It would take an uncommon reviewer, one both familiar with Franklin’s history and who has never met an awful joke he didn’t like, to assert the following contention (fortunately, you’re in the incapable hands of just such a reviewer right now): though Franklin was a lightning rod* for controversy after he returned from his diplomatic mission to France, he was something akin to a godlike philosopher king in France, a fact that hardly helped his reputation at home (despite the fact that French assistance was critical to winning the war, Americans viewed the French, who were just starting their own exceedingly bloody and violent revolution, with distrust, and this was long before they were doing things like dressing up as mimes and railing against the inhuman burden of the 35-hour work week …no offense to my French friends; it’s a reflexive American habit).

(*You know that lightning rod thing was funny because Ben Franklin invented the lightning rod, right? Right.)

Look, Benjamin Franklin needs another book written about him about as much as I need a fourth nipple (my third one is very useful for…well, never mind; that’s none of your business), so it’s imperative that, barring the discovery of new primary sources that offer previously unknown information, an author take a unique angle when covering Franklin, and Wood has done that here. In juxtaposing Franklin’s awe-inspiring reputation abroad with the indifferent (if not hostile) reception he received at home at the end of his life (notwithstanding pockets of loyal supporters who recognized Franklin’s undeniable genius), Wood has offered insight into the strange paradox of how a man largely ignored at the time of his death (despite being the most internationally famous American to date, and one who, you could argue, could give Beyonce a run for her money today) could so soon after become an archetypal symbol of Americanosity.

If you’re new to Franklin, I’d look elsewhere for a thorough accounting of the man, the myth, and the legend, but if you’re ready for Franklin as the lens through which we view what it means to be American, this tome is well worth checking out.

(And if you find old, gout-ridden men wearing nothing but a fur hat and a come-hither smile as delightful as I do…well, may the gods have mercy on your soul. And mine.)

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wood offers us an insightful look into the character and contributions of Franklin. Not formatted as a typical biography, Wood focuses on specific aspects of Franklin’s life. Wood does an excellent job of digging beneath the surface to show us a man driven to succeed, brilliant in many ways, but clueless in others. In business he was a good judge of people, in politics a bad one. As an orator he was poor, at conventions hardly noticeable, but one on one he was charming and convincing. He was very conscious of his public image and crafted it carefully. Always looking for recognition, he was clearly self-absorbed which he also demonstrated in his personal life. He treated his wife like hired help and did as he pleased. My notes below focus on his public life.

Born the fifteenth of seventeen children to a candle and soap maker in Boston in 1706, Franklin grew up poor. Only receiving two years of basic education he was self-taught. Bright, curious and multi-talented he read everything he could lay his hands on. He was driven to learn and achieve. Most of all he wanted to be a gentleman, an important class distinction of the day. Gentlemen did not work for a living and looked down on those who did. As a boy he was apprenticed to his brother, a printer. Escaping to Philadelphia he eventually established his own business. Franklin was a hardworking, frugal and astute businessman. He became rich and sold his businesses to become a gentleman. Such transitions in the eighteenth century were rare. As a self-made man he would became a symbol of American opportunity and achievement and in this very significant way the first American. He established himself as a gentleman at a time when people believed gentlemen were born not made. Franklin would become an icon for the American generation that came after the Revolution, the first that would value a man for what he did, not just who he was.

Once he made his fortune Franklin went about distinguishing himself as a man of leisure. His first way was through exploration of the natural world. His profound discoveries, inventions and writings about science, particularly electricity propelled him to worldwide fame. Next Franklin turned to public service. Starting as Philadelphia councilman in 1748 with election to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, his ambitions soon entered a larger arena. Franklin wanted the colonies to unite and ultimately form with Britain a single nation of Englishmen. He didn’t want blacks in America. He didn’t want the Germans either, who had started settling in Pennsylvania. Franklin was a total Anglophile. In 1757 the Pennsylvania Assembly sent him to England to lobby for taxation of proprietary lands owned by the founding Penn family. Franklin fell in love with London, soon became a royalist and wanted to make Pennsylvania a royal colony. But Franklin was out of touch with the feelings of Americans as he found out after his return in 1762. He lost his seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1764 and returned to England. He had many enemies in America who didn’t trust the Crown and or its supplicant, Franklin.

In sharp contrast Franklin was very popular in elite social circles in Europe. Having been elected to the Royal Society in 1756, the 1760’s would find him hobnobbing with David Hume, Erasmus Darwin, close friend Joseph Priestly and many other leading figures. His political views were popular in London and he was looked upon as a sensible respectable representative of America at a time when most Englishmen considered Americans crude bumpkins and something less than English. This was also a time when the English government was increasingly concerned about the loyalty of Americans. Their concern was well placed, but Franklin didn’t get it. He didn’t understand his own countrymen or the English government. He always thought he could bring the two together. After winning the Seven Years War in 1763, English power and arrogance was at its height. One outcome was the belief that Americans should help pay for the war with new taxes. The vehicle was the Stamp Act of 1765. Franklin opposed it but also thought the American outrage was out of line. He still thought he could influence Parliament and that he understood America. He understood neither. The English considered him too American and Americans considered him too English. Franklin ended his efforts at accommodation following a vicious verbal attack on him by the British Solicitor General in an open forum in London in 1775. He returned home to find his country in the throes of revolution. A chastened Franklin was now ready for revolution and as a disillusioned convert to the cause his feelings were particularly intense. Born was Franklin the patriot. He was selected as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

In 1776 Congress sent Franklin to Paris as part of a three man mission to garner support from France. Franklin was uniquely capable and uniquely qualified for this important task. He loved the French and they loved him. He fit into Paris society hand in glove. Where his political sense had always been off his diplomatic sense was always right on target. Franklin convinced France to enter into an alliance with America in 1778, all the more remarkable as he was 72 years old suffering from severe gout and other serious ailments. In addition to the alliance he secured numerous loans from France which were critical to the American cause. Staying until the end of the war he helped to negotiate the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Franklin’s accomplishments were crucial. Despite constant carping from associates including John Adams, Franklin was very effective and a major contributor to the success of the Revolution.

Upon his return home Franklin was met by cheering crowds in Philadelphia but in Washington he faced many enemies. Federalists particularly John Adams questioned his patriotism. John and Abigail having witnessed his free lifestyle In Paris considered him a degenerate. Despite being honored by his home state by unanimous election to President of the Supreme Executive Council, a body that functioned as governor, Franklin often felt alone and out of place in his own country. He died in 1790 at the age of 84. At the time of his death, the French mourned him more than the Americans. It would be another generation before the image of the Franklin we know today would be created.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benjamin Franklin has been mythologized as "the hardworking self-made businessman" and "the man who personifies the American dream". Franklin raised himself up from a position as a printer's apprentice to be a successful businessman, journalist, scientist, philosopher, philanthropist, and statesman.

Gordon S. Wood's book highlights important events in Franklin's life that show how the young man dreamed of being a respectable gentleman someday. Franklin was happiest in upper class European society in London and Paris in his later life. His mission as a diplomat in France during the Revolutionary War was perhaps his greatest contribution to the American cause. His considerable charm and intelligence was important in obtaining millions in loans from France to finance the fight of the patriots. At his death Franklin was mourned by the French while Americans, caught up in conflicting ideas about their new country, mostly ignored the event. When Franklin's "Autobiography" was published after his death, he was upheld as a model for young American men to work hard to succeed in the land of opportunity.

"The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin" is not a traditional biography since it focuses on certain events and choices that shaped Franklin's thinking and stature in society. The book is engaging, interesting, and witty like Franklin himself. It gave me greater appreciation for the political leaders in those turbulent times of the 18th Century.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography of Benjamin Franklin centers around how Franklin came to be viewed as the quintessential American and how he changed his views from a staunch loyalist to become one the key contributors to the American Revolution. It seeks to go beyond the familiar stories of his role as a founding father, writer of Poor Richard’s Almanac, and scientist conducting electricity experiments with kites. It shows Franklin as a man of many talents and experiences, who was decades older than his fellow founding fathers. It is definitely not a hagiography, as it shows Franklin’s foibles as well as his strengths. It provides a well-rounded view of Franklin as an author, printer, scientist, inventor, philosopher, and diplomat.

Franklin was born to a family of modest means and became a printer. He was looked down upon by the “gentlemen” of the era. A gentleman was born into wealth and was not required to work as a tradesman in order to produce income. Ironically, Franklin wanted to transform into a gentleman, a person of leisure who could be a patron to others, a goal which he eventually achieved. He has always been touted as the epitome of a self-made man but Franklin himself wanted to align with the landed gentry and benefitted from the assistance of wealthy patrons. It may come as a surprise to many Americans that Franklin started out as a confirmed British loyalist. He spent many years in England and would probably have stayed there if the British government has conceded to his requests. The narrative shows how his interactions with England’s government, and an attack on his character, changed his views drastically and led him to support the revolution. He was also a controversial figure during his lifetime and upon his death, was celebrated much more in France, where he spent eight of his happiest years, than in his home country.

Wood’s writing is organized, logical, well-researched, and focused. He cites many examples from various letters, journals, and Franklin’s autobiography, and uses them to highlight Franklin’s inconsistencies between what he outwardly stated and what he practiced in his private life. Wood provides insight on Ben Franklin’s character and brings to light many lesser known facts, exploding a few myths along the way.

The audio book is read by Peter Johnson, who does a good job with the performance. It kept me entertained for over eight hours on a driving trip. Recommended to those interested in US history, especially the lives of the founding fathers.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had a copy of Ben Franklin's Autobiography on my bookshelf as part of larger collection of leather bound books for several years. I have never had any serious interest in reading it because Franklin has never really impressed me as one of our country's founders. I have read references to Franklin's involvement in the Revolution as part of many other biographies and his participation seemed far too limited to be of much interest. As a man well past the life expectancy of the time he seemed to have been given some soft jobs just to keep him out of the way of the important work. As such Ben was sent to France to negotiate an alliance which didn't happen until we proved we weren't a hopeless cause after Saratoga. After Yorktown he had the job of negotiating the peace with Britain and then he returned home after 8 years in France which followed the 20 or so years he spent in England before Lexington and Concord. When he returned home he was part of our Constitutional Convention in 1787 where he spent most of his time sleeping through the debates and having his few suggests ignored. Reading this book gave me a much greater appreciation of this man and an understanding of his value to the American cause and the American identity that developed during the 19th century.

Ben Franklin was the only American in the 18th century that could be what we understand today to be a celebrity and an international celebrity at that. He basically defined and epitomized the concept of the self-made man and was able to bridge the gap between being a working man and becoming a gentleman. In the rigidly class conscious 18th century a man that worked, that worked with his hand, could never be expected to become a gentleman and that was a pinnacle status of the time. Franklin was born to working class and became a printer. Through diligence and perseverance he educated himself and flourished in business to the point that he was able to retire from business in middle age. At retirement he did what many gentlemen did and that was to devote himself to idle pursuits of personal interest. Franklin's interest was electricity which resulted in some successes that became the subject of publications and international attention. This attention resulted in a notoriety that got him appointed to represent Pennsylvania and a few other colonies in London. His time in England was so lengthy that when he returned in the early 1770's his loyalty was seriously in doubt. Since Ben was more interested in finding reasonable solutions to colonial problems rather than radical responses he was thought to be too much a Tory. Nevertheless, when he returned to America the cause had a use for him and it was important.

Franklin's tenure in France was probably an assignment that only he could have performed. While he was still regarded as being of doubtful loyalty he was now suspected of being too French. He was criticized by the other members of his delegation and had to weather attempts to remove him. What saved him and, ultimately, America was the insistence by France that he not be removed. While his colleagues never understood neither Franklin nor the French Ben was the only one the French regarded seriously. To the French Franklin was a superstar while his fellow Americans were amateurs on the world stage. Without Franklin the alliance with France was doubtful and without the alliance Yorktown was unlikely. We can speculate about how that might have turned out but thankfully we didn't have to live through it.

Now what really was revelatory about Franklin was how his life accomplishments were used to frame and define an ideal for the youth of the new United States. This book offers a very interesting and informative glimpse into 18th century society and how Franklin unwittingly overcame its impassable barriers. As a low born tradesman, a printer, his life should have been restricted. Ben, however, was curious and his trade offered him the advantage of being taught to read and read he did. He devoured every book he could get access to and educated himself. He was able to open his own printing shop and then through thrift and diligence was able to expand his business to shops in other cities and become an 18th century entrepreneur. He was also an author which added to his blossoming wealth and acclaim. His wealth afforded him the opportunity to retire from business and to cease working with his hands as not needing to work was the hallmark of a gentleman. Of course acquiring wealth and not needing to work was not enough to become a gentleman. Ben became a gentleman as result of his scientific pursuits in the field of electricity and the acclaim that resulted from his successes in this field. The fact that this low born uneducated printer was able to break the social barriers of the day and obliterate the stigma attached to laboring for a living was what cemented Franklin's place in American history. Following his death Franklin's Autobiography became the road map for the common man's path to success in America. The working man was no longer a social outcast and the concept of a gentleman was now open to new, American, definition. Franklin's life formed the foundation for the evolution of what would become American society and its values and therein lies his greatness.

[Peter Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brown University Historian Gordon Wood’s brief but insightful biography helped me see my favorite founding father in a new light. At just 246 pages, the previous biography I read, H.W. Brands competent “The First American,” is three times as long. Wood covers much of the same ground as both books rely heavily on Ben’s own writings. Where they differ is on the level of detail, emphasis and interpretation.

Wood has created the most interesting framework of any biography I have read. His book consists of only five chapters:
Becoming a Gentleman
Becoming a British Imperialist
Becoming a Patriot
Becoming a Diplomat
Becoming an American

Wood begins and ends his book by dismantling the myths that have distorted the image of Franklin since the early 1800s. Franklin was the only self-made founding father, but he had no intention of becoming the poster boy for capitalism, even if Fitzgerald’s Gatsby saw him as such. It is no coincidence that Ben’s most popular saying concerns getting up early as the key to getting rich. Franklin became a successful printer in Philadelphia at the very moment my mother and father’s ancestors were arriving from Germany. Like most Americans at the time, he was far from welcoming, “Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements?” (p. 71). Franklin only wanted British to settle in America. It was far from clear if Franklin would become a patriot, and when he did, many questioned his loyalties for years.

I agree with Wood’s assessment that Franklin’s “crucial diplomacy in the Revolution makes him second only to Washington in importance” (p.246). During his lifetime, the French were far more impressed with Franklin than Americans were. Ben used his popularity and charisma on a cash-strapped French government to get France to effectively bankroll the Revolution. Some drafters of the Constitution thought Franklin must be profiting from this relationship and pushed for an “emoluments” clause to be included (p. 209). The Trumpster decided from Day 1 that this law did not apply to him.

Wood goes into much more detail about Franklin’s writing of his autobiography than Brands. I also didn’t remember Brands mentioning that Franklin favored a unicameral legislature. Having spent over ten years in a country with just such a system (South Korea), I am inclined to agree. Brands ends his book with the Franklin quote most frequently cited since the Trumpster became president. When a woman asks what the Constitutional Convention has made, Franklin responds, “a republic, if you can keep it” (p. 716). Shockingly, Wood doesn’t include this quote. Wood and Brands are solid writers, but neither one’s prose reaches the level of Chernow’s.

Based on his footnotes, Wood has equal regard for Brands’ “The First American” and Isaacson’s “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” (the Goldilocks’ choice for book length!), but the writer Wood is most impressed with is Claude-Anne Lopez. She garners twice as many mentions as both authors combined. Her most noted book is “The Private Franklin: The Man and His Family” (finally, a title that doesn’t include “American”), but my next Ben book will be her “My Life with Franklin,” a collection of essays on a life devoted to understanding this prolific writer, inventor, postmaster and diplomat extraordinaire. After that I’ll read “The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin’s House.” Wood notes, “Few eighteenth-century fathers and sons had ever been closer or more intimate with one another” (p. 161). Sadly, when Ben’s son refused to renounce his loyalty to Britain, Franklin never spoke to him again.

[Paul Haspel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Americanization” is not a word that one would ordinarily associate with Benjamin Franklin. Of all the Founders, Franklin is the one who is most likely to seem characteristically American. "As American as Benjamin Franklin" – it's easy to imagine someone saying that. With his rise from humble origins to wealth and fame, Franklin seems to epitomize the American Dream; he seems as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. Strange, therefore, to reflect that for a large part of his life, Franklin lived in Great Britain, and considered himself as British as cricket, fish-and-chips, plum pudding, and Austin-Healey. Such revisionist considerations are at the heart of Gordon S. Wood's The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin.

Wood, a professor of history at Brown University, seeks throughout this book to convince the reader that the real Benjamin Franklin has relatively little in common with the image of self-sufficient entrepreneurial success that became popular throughout the Northern United States during the early 19th century. Wood suggests that there was something careful and self-conscious about the way in which Franklin, with his success as a printer and publisher, moved up within the Philadelphia society of his time. In a chapter titled “Becoming a Gentleman,” Wood writes that “Since Franklin did not want to appear ridiculous, he was not about to act the gentleman unless he was fully prepared to assume the rank and the rank was fully prepared to accept him….Franklin knew only too well the nature of the society he lived in….Franklin knew it would not be easy for him to hoist himself up in one generation” (p. 51).

In fact, Franklin was not so completely self-made as many might think; in the hierarchical, patronage-oriented Philadelphia of the 18th century, Franklin's rise was facilitated by the assistance of powerful men. And far from being universally popular within his home colony/home state of Pennsylvania, Franklin (who spent a great deal of time seeking to revoke the Penn family's status as colonial proprietors of Pennsylvania) had plenty of enemies, as shown by a significant reversal that Franklin suffered in Pennsylvania state politics in 1764:

The campaign for elections to the Pennsylvania Assembly in October 1764 was one of the most scurrilous in American colonial history, and both Franklin and [his ally Joseph] Galloway lost their seats. Franklin was accused of a host of sins – of lechery, of having humble origins, of abandoning the mother of his bastard son, of stealing his ideas of electricity from another electrician, of embezzling colony funds, and of buying his honorary degrees. (p. 101)

Such examples of “opposition research” and negative campaigning from 255 years ago sound distressingly modern and contemporary.

Wood emphasizes how, for a large part of his life, Franklin left colonial America, lived in England, and linked his future with that of the British Empire. His mind did not really change, in that regard, until January of 1775. At that time, Franklin, who had published letters from Massachusetts' colonial governor in an ill-advised effort to diffuse Anglo-American tensions, was publicly denounced and vilified at Whitehall by Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn. Having tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the British Government and the colonial governments back home, Franklin "felt his Americanness as never before. His emotional separation from England was now final and complete"; and he soon became “a passionate patriot, more passionate in fact than nearly all the other patriot leaders” (p. 151).

Franklin's life, as Wood sees it, is a long process of becoming -- the chapter headings focus on Franklin's becoming a gentleman, a British imperialist, a patriot, a diplomat, and finally an American. I particularly liked Wood's emphasis on the importance of Franklin's work in France, not only as a formal diplomatic representative of the new United States of America but also as a popular symbol of rugged and unschooled American virtue. In many ways, Franklin broke the established rules by which a diplomat was supposed to operate; and yet, as Wood points out,

Franklin was able to get away with…diplomatic shenanigans because he always maintained the support of [French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Comte de] Vergennes and the French public, or at least the aristocratic part of the public that counted. And that support, indeed that adulation by the French public, enabled him to weather every storm and every difficulty during these turbulent years. His reputation with the French was the greatest source of his political support in the Continental Congress. Without the repeated insistence of the French government that it preferred to deal with Franklin and Franklin alone, it is quite possible that the Congress would have recalled him; certainly his enemies thought so. But his extraordinary reputation in France, in fact in all of Europe, not only helped to maintain his political support back home; it was also a principal source of whatever strength America had in international politics. (p. 200)

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin is well-written and well-organized, with helpful illustrations such as portraits of Franklin at different points in his life. It is also impressive in its concision; while many recent biographies of Franklin have run to 500 pages or more, Wood tells Franklin's story skillfully and well in a mere 246 pages.

Having lived in Pennsylvania for seven years, I know that Benjamin Franklin is virtually a living presence throughout the Commonwealth; and throughout Pennsylvania, across the United States of America, and all over the world, people admire Dr. Franklin and seek to emulate his example of hard work, entrepreneurship, self-improvement, and success. For all those admirers of Benjamin Franklin, or for anyone who is a student of America's colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin is an essential read.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, short, selective biography of Franklin that succeeds, I think, in de-mythologizing him. He wasn't much of a politician, in Wood's telling, and pretty much ignored his wife and daughter during his long stays in England and France. But his diplomatic skills in France kept the money flowing and likely kept the American Revolution alive. He was a considerable celebrity in Europe, liked that, and liked living there.

Politics was, if anything, even wilder & woollier in the late 18th century, on both sides of the Atlantic. And the past is a different country. I recommend the book to anyone curious about Franklin, and about American history around the time of the revolution. Wood is a good writer, and he's done his homework. 4 stars.

The review that lead me to read the book was Connie's, and I recommend that you read it, too:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Colleen Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading the autobiography donkey's years ago and thought that Franklin was too punctilious for my taste. For that reason, even though I have always respected his intellect and industriousness, I was just not terribly interested in learning more about him but the title of this book along with its author made me think again about it.

As a well-respected historian, Wood treats his subject with respect all the while remaining objective. Franklin's early life, coming from nothing is examined through to his commercial success, his becoming a "gentlemen", his intellectual life and long life as a diplomat are explored. Woods looks at Franklin through his belief system which was typical of the "republican" ideas of the Enlightenment era in which he lived. In his other work, Wood explains how the men of the time who achieved the status of gentlemen were looked to as the leaders of society. If you were not born into wealth but managed to achieve it and no longer needed to work you could achieve the status of a gentleman if you then pursued the goals that gentlemen were expected to pursue. Having attained the status, Franklin pursued a gentlemanly lifestyle. Serving the good of society was foremost. His scientific work, as well as his appointments to the diplomatic corp, filled his life. But while he was enormously successful abroad, his success at home after moving to Europe was never properly appreciated in his lifetime. His personal life was also not what might be expected of him.

Franklin married a woman he considered below his station. He didn't have her accompany him when he went out socially in America and left her in America during his long years abroad. When she died, he didn't really even acknowledge it. He had a son born out of wedlock whom he nurtured as a gentleman. He sent him to the right schools and procured diplomatic posts for him. They were extremely close and yet when the Revolution began, father and son found themselves on different sides and the elder Franklin cut off all relations with his son for the duration of his life. He had a daughter with his wife and that relationship did endure. He set up his son-in-law as a printer/publisher and he would become famous as the tool of the Jeffersonians.

Although this book is not terribly long, it is filled with a multitude of information. Wood makes no excuses for his shortcomings but he is clearly sympathetic with Franklin when he returns home to America in his old age and unlike in Europe, particularly in France, his accomplishments aren't acknowledged. According to Wood, without the relationships Franklin built and his successful efforts to procure loans from the French, it is quite possible that America could never have won the Revolution although at the time, the Congress and the American people were loathe to admit it. Moreover, it was Franklin's pride in his lowly beginning and his writings as Poor Richard and his autobiography that the latter generation came to see working for a living as worthwhile and something to be proud of.

[Brian Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant re-evaluation of Benjamin Franklin is probably also the best shorter biography to read of one of our most mythologized Founders. Other than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Franklin's image is probably the most reproduced of all American legends. But the vital truth is that we completely misunderstand what Franklin actually did and stood for in the course of his enigmatic career.

Wood asserts forcefully that Franklin was never an American in the sense that we have come to associate with him, but that rather, his "Americanization" is a rehabilitated image begun with his years in France and completed after his death. He was a self-made man, a rustic with homely saws and sayings as well as a brilliant inventive mind, but for the large majority of his life, he did not conceive of himself as American. In fact, he along with many other colonists firmly considered themselves British. This did not change through the buildup to the Declaration of Independence, so much so that his fellow colonists who were converting towards a feeling of revolutionary fervor felt that Franklin would betray them to the British when he was sent there as an emissary in 1775. It was on this trip, because of the insulting and degrading way in which he was treated, that Franklin returned with anger towards his former country and a feeling of patriotism towards his colonial allies. Despite all of the fighting, it wasn't until the French celebrated his "Americanism" after the war that he began to earn an American reputation. After his death, he received very little notice or public praise in America, but he was lauded in France. It wasn't until Americans here began to read his Autobiography in earnest and attempted to transform the American identity in his image, that of the "self-made man" who could achieve a sort of American dream through industry, hard work, frugality, and essential character, that Franklin was posthumously recognized as the quintessential "American character".

A vital and essential book for those interested in Franklin and the Revolutionary Era, but particularly for those who want a compulsive read without a mass of extraneous detail or a complete life. Easily read over a weekend.

[Oogii O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I hear about the name Benjamin Franklin, I immediately have this great image of the man who personifies the American dream. After reading this book, it has even made me feel more confident than ever for that delightful thought that I pleasantly take refuge in. The book also talks about how much of an interesting figure he really was during his times on earth and how his legacy was defined after his death. There were so many things that I learned about him and the pre-during-after the American Revolution’s era. Loved it.

“Franklin was one of the greatest of the Founders; indeed, his crucial diplomacy in the Revolution makes him second only to Washington in importance.”

“As long as America is seen as the land of opportunity, where you can get ahead if you work hard, this image of Franklin will likely be the one that continues to dominate American culture.”

[Elizabeth S · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is much to enjoy about this book, whether you love Benjamin Franklin or know virtually nothing about the man.

As someone who has studied Franklin but never considers him within my top Founding Fathers to research, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. What I so enjoyed about it was that it took a different angle than most works full of high praise for the men who helped construct America's new, republican government. While each of these men have some faults that are pointed out from time to time, I felt Wood did an excellent job of recognizing Franklin as someone other than the man we so often envision, while not acting as if that disparity makes him any worse.

Benjamin Franklin fought hard to make himself into a gentleman, coming from a family that certainly did not provide him with such status. But as he rose in prominence, much of the acclaim he earned was acquired abroad. Other than Thomas Jefferson the Francophile, Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the only Founding Father so strongly associated with foreign connections. He didn't merely saunter across the seas to learn from other cultures; Franklin fully immersed himself in foreign life, and spent more years dazzling foreign elites than many of the other Founding Fathers had even been alive.

The reason his "Americanization" is so key here is because Franklin never was the picture of colonial patriotism. It took him years and years to oppose British imperialism, and he failed to curry much favor in the budding American republic because of his sentiments in this regard. He may have been seen as an incredibly intelligent and seasoned man whose support could help if gained, yet his popularity was dismal in America compared to what it was abroad.

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin makes for a simple yet fascinating read, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the men who helped shape America. Though if Franklin's treatment of his wife gives you reason to like the man a little less, then feel free to join the club.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about Benjamin Franklin. Now I have a much better understanding of how Franklin's involvement in Philadelphia, the emerging colony of America and the American Revolution had such an impact. My favorite line in the book, in a chapter headed "The Symbolic American", relates to Franklin's mission in France to get support for the American Revolution. Wood writes, "In 1776, Franklin was the most potent weapon the United States possessed in its struggle with the greatest power [England] on earth." Franklin's influence, both in life and through subsequent generations, was phenomenal.

There's nothing dry or boring about this book. Wood is a very good writer. I enjoyed it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew that we owe Franklin for The American Dream; his much-published autobiography created a wealthy middle class in 19th Century America w/ a work ethic and philosophy of the value of money that has made America what it is today. B/c of his great celebrity due to his writings on electricity, France fell in love w/ him and was willing to fund the American Revolution.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Philadelphia is one of two American cities that Ben Franklin called home (the other being Boston, where he lived until he came to Philadelphia in his late teens). I don't know whether or not Boston embraces their Franklin connection, but Philadelphia certainly does. Much of the tourism advertising coming out of Philly features ol' Ben, and in the Old City section, where Franklin lived and worked (and where I've worked the last eleven years), it's hard to avoid the Franklin legacy. It's not unusual to even run into the man himself.

Even with all this Franklin history nearby, I still wasn't familiar his story beyond the usual grade-school-textbook profile of him: printer, writer, postmaster, inventor, and sage to our founding fathers. That's why I was interested in reading Gordon S. Wood's book, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. It promised to add the details that are often dropped from Franklin's story.

And the book does just that. Things that I didn't know, like his loyalty to the King (almost right up to 1776), his never fully being accepted into the gentry class because of his working-class origins, and his success in getting the French to repeatedly increase their funding for our war against the British. The book spends a lot of time detailing Franklin's years living in France, and a love of the French that made him consider staying there - and made many American politicians openly question his loyalty. I liked having the details of Franklin's life filled in. I now see him as a much more complex figure than just the hard-working and deep-thinking Quaker.

Unfortunately, as interesting as these new (to me) facts were, I found the book very hard to get through. I don't read many history books, but I did enjoy reading Joseph Ellis' Founding Brothers a couple years ago. I was expecting this book to hold my interest like Ellis' book did, but Wood's writing was so dry it took me forever to get through. I couldn't get myself to want to read it at lunch, in bed, or on the weekends (times when I normally do most of my reading) so all my reading was done during my fifteen-minute ride on the train to and from work. It's a shame, because the book covers interesting aspects of Franklin's life, but it really reads like a high school history book. I would recommend it only if you were really into Benjamin Franklin.

[Bart Breen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deceptively Simple

You'd expect this book to get high marks, by virtue of the Author and his past credentials. What is remarkable is how compact and easy to comprehend it is, given that source and his prior accolades.

The premise is simple. Franklin has been perceived to a mythological degree by those who see him as the historical icon of his age. Therefore, what is in order here is a piercing of that veil to show Franklin as a man, with the all too human qualities that are lost in the more popular contrived persona.

Wood does just that in a manner that allows us to see Franklin with all the flaws and foibles that are otherwise missed.

The success of this book is that rather than tearing away the legend of Franklin, there is an explanation as to how that persona grew and why it grew. We see Franklin as the man of his age who rose from obscurity to a self-made "gentleman" to a leading diplomat of his age revered in Europe to a degree unmatched in America until after his death.

It's not necessarily designed to de-mystify Franklin. Franklin still comes off as the important figure he is. We see Franklin the inattentive husband, the doting and then injured father and the grandfather seemingly determined to atone for past sins. We see his interactions with other Founders, whom ironically attest to his complete translation to the Gentleman he aspires to be and subsequently takes the slings and arrows specifically reserved for that class by those who despise it and/or secretly covet for themselves.

This book is well written enough that it will become indespensible to any true student of Franklin or colonial times, but it also reads easily enough that the typical high school student can read it with profit.

Really, to dispel such mythology it has to be this way. Aiming for the upper eschelons only serves to keep this knowledge within its own little Ivory Tower cabal. Here it does the most good. You can't dispel such a myth without aiming at the foundation.

This one is a keeper and worth buying for future reference.

[Piker7977 · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to Gordon Wood, the tale of Benjamin Franklin is one that thematically coincides with the creation of the American republic. You might read that and think no "kidding." However, the reader of The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin will understand Franklin's patriotism and devotion to independence were not evident from the get go and they took a long time to galvanize. This mirrors conclusions about the drift towards independence in the colonies as there were varying degrees of patriotism and loyalist sentiment.

Not all of the colonies wanted independence during the 1770s either. This complex narrative is reflected in the man who became a revolutionary on the eve of independence. In his late support, he was to play a significant role that rivals his other contemporaries. This is where the book hits its highest notes. The analysis of Franklin's diplomatic contributions are fascinating and revealing. To remember this man as a frugal, hard working businessman does not do his memory enough justice. It should be his relations with the French during the Revolution that merit the most reflection and consideration. Bringing this to light is a great service that Wood provides to the reader (casual or historian) of American independence.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I began reading this biography, I had only the most superficial knowledge regarding Benjamin Franklin. All I knew of the man was largely based on factoids remembered from high school history. I'm no American History scholar, although I have a strong interest in Colonial America. So when it came time to pick up a book about Franklin, I must have been exceedingly lucky to have grabbed Gordon S. Wood's tome.

I had no idea about Franklin having been initially pro-British before he became our most famous patriot. And while I was aware of the axioms associated with his "Poor Richard's Almanac," learning more about his background by reading Wood's work gave that part of Franklin's character much greater meaning for me. And I was also amazed at Franklin's darker side, particularly how he treated his wife with a coldness and callousness that caused me to feel great ambivalence about this man. Knowing all this, would I ever want to associate with someone like Franklin? The fact that this biography caused such an emotional stir within me is to me a mark of greatness.

This is, indeed, an exceptional and accessible biography.

[Emma Burkhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am trying to read more nonfiction lately, and the title of this book induced me to pick it up. The book examines how Ben Franklin, the iconic American, was not always the firebrand patriot he is historically portrayed as. Despite the fact that he later became a symbol of the hardworking everyman, in his youth he worked very hard to become a "gentleman," part of colonial America's elite. Additionally, he supported British imperialism for many years, attempting to unite the colonies not as a means to revolution but as a means to creating a stronger British satellite. He also spent years in London and France, being celebrated by European intellectuals much more than he was back in Philadelphia. It was only in his seventies that he broke with Britain and became a zealous patriot -- and even then, he had to prove to many Americans whose side he was really on! Very readable, very interesting; highly recommended!

[Mae Dunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was a British loyalist up until *1775*?? ME NEITHER.

It actually seems like he switched sides as a result of having his pride insulted by the English. I hate to admit it but reading this book did alter my view of Benjamin Franklin in a mostly negatively way. Not that the book was itself critical of its subject.

I'm definitely interested in reading some more founding father literature now. One of my favorite things was how John Adams' dislike of Franklin and some of his quotations. It's wonderful to think of founding father and early American president John Adams as a clever, snarky young man with a bit of an acid tongue.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to choose a favorite historian, it would be Gordon S. Wood. His scholarship is masterful, and he combines it with a lovely literary style that is very accessible to the general reader. This book on Benjamin Franklin - not a complete biography, but rather an exploration of how Franklin came to be the archetypal American - is a wonderful example. Read it to learn how Franklin's thinking about the British empire and society, as well as the ancient aristocratic denigration of work, evolved into the uniquely American elevation of the "middling" classes that was readily apparent by the time of Alexis de Toqueville. I listened to the audio edition, which is very well narrated.

[Bram Macgregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really well written and gripping book that analyzes how Benjamin Franklin became a founding father and a legendary historical figure.

It’s not a biography in the typical sense, sure it goes through Franklin’s life but doesn’t dwell on anything in particular and only uses his life as a reference for the analysis.

Good book, very readable, and could be a good entry into reading about Franklin.

4/5

[Annie Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a great read....I loved learning about the complexities of Franklin's character, his hard-working attitude, and his ties to Britian and Loyalists before he turned to being a Patriot. He was not a perfect man, as nobody is, but he certianly remains a hero in many ways.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benjamin Franklin is the most accessible of the Founders, and in the eyes of his many admirers, the most authentically American. Among his revolutionary peers, he alone could claim working class origins, having labored his way from relative poverty and obscurity to unprecedented global wealth and fame. From an apprentice printer, to the owner of his own press, to an entrepreneur, inventor, aphorist, amateur scientist, and venture capitalist, to a legislator, to postmaster general of the North American colonies, to a diplomat for both his adopted home colony of Pennsylvania and the fledgling United States of America, to an elder statesman and global icon of democracy in the Age of Revolutions, Franklin’s rise is among the most spectacular in history. He has come to symbolize the American man-on-the-make, embodying the American ideal of advancement through hard work, thrift, and civic-mindedness.

Yet, as Gordon Wood argues, Franklin’s status as the quintessential American was far from secure during his own lifetime. A passionate Anglophile and British imperialist for most of his life, this “consummate American” spent twenty-six of his final thirty years in Britain and France, only reluctantly returning to an America that always felt foreign to him. Only after 1775 did he fully embrace the Patriot cause, and his revolutionary ardor was inflamed as much by personal animus towards British parliamentarians who had blamed him for instigating the rebellion and publicly humiliated him as it was by genuine republican sentiment. Shortly after returning from a long stint in London (where he was petitioning the British government to end the proprietorship of the Penn family over Pennsylvania and take the colony under crown control), Franklin was sent to France by the Continental Congress, where he used his experience in dealing with European courtly life and his stature as the world’s preeminent American to secure the French financial and military intervention that made the success of the American cause possible.

After the death of his wife (he was a total douchebag to his wife) he proposed marriage to one of the aristocratic women at the French court. If she had said yes, Franklin likely would have stayed in France for the rest of his life; but she declined because she didn’t think he was serious, so he returned to the United States out of a sense of obligation to the country he had helped create, and was promptly made de facto leader of Pennsylvania (Franklin helped draft the Pennsylvania Constitution; he gave the state a plural executive and a unicameral legislature due to his disgust with the aristocratic corruption of the English court) and delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Franklin was second only to Washington in his importance to the success of the American Revolution; and yet he always felt more at home in Europe, and he was always regarded by his fellow Americans with cool suspicion. Upon his death in 1790, the French National Assembly declared three days of mourning for the man they celebrated as a champion of republicanism and enlightened reason. The American reaction was gallingly tempered in comparison.

Franklin’s reputation changed as America changed. It was only in the Jacksonian Era in the early and mid-nineteenth century that the familiar image of his life as the great American success story fully crystalized. This populist wave in America’s early national history saw the burgeoning of the class of middling tradesmen to which Franklin had belonged. With the abolition of noble titles and the dismantling of property restrictions for voters and office holders, American culture came to be identified with this rising class of frontier proletarians. And with this rise came the Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, their patron deity.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Join or Die!
- Benjamin Franklin, The Albany Congress, 1754

We’ve all heard of the greatness of Benjamin Franklin. Our grandparents have told us stories of his work in the framing of our fledging nation, his attributes to the American Revolution and to science, and his witty proverbs from Poor Richard’s Almanack that still seeps into the great minds of our culture today. But when we think of the great Franklin, our minds seem to constantly drift to a cartoonish half-bald man with spectacles flying a kite or this same man tinkering with his latest invention.

Of the four major modern biographies on Franklin, Walter Isaacson’s mainstream bio became a New York Times Bestseller, H. W. Brand’s scholarly academic was a Pulitzer finalist, Thomas Kidd’s religious work won the Guittard Book Award, and this one won both the Pulitzer and the Bancroft prizes. It seems that the greatness of Franklin is still claiming the highest of accolades today.

Printer. Postmaster. Almanack maker. Essayist. Chemist. Orator. Tinker. Statesman. Humorist. Philosopher. Parlorman. Political economist. Professor of housewifery. Ambassador. Projector. Maxim monger. Herb doctor. Wit. “Franklin was everything but a poet!”
~ Herman Melville on Franklin

This is a great introductory book to the life of Benjamin Franklin, which touches on the more important events in his life and his contributions to the modern world as we know it. In it, Gordon S. Wood peels back the layers of American mythology to find the historical Franklin. Another author, Joseph J. Ellis, tried to do the same with the great Washington in his book, His Excellency, but failed to execute this by making the book more about Ellis and his pedantic thoughts than about Washington, and filled his book with so many other flaws that I performed a great heresy and blasphemous act of throwing Ellis’s book where it belongs - the trash! An act I have done with no other book.

Wood, however, achieves this finding of Franklin brilliantly. He is able to remain mostly unbiased in his tellings and includes many criticisms and satires of Franklin by humorists Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, and D.H. Lawrence, while also telling us of his great achievements and contributions, his grand genius, and why Franklin has been so admired for the past 300 years. History needs to be told in this way, not one way or another, not Right nor Left, but cut straight down the middle, running the gauntlet as it were.

Of all the Founding Fathers, it is Franklin who defended England until the ‘shot heard round the world’ at Lexington and Concord. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin explores how this ‘greatest of all the founders save Washington’ went from an identity of an English self-made gentleman to that of the most patriotic American and passionate Revolutionary this country has ever seen. Going from loyalists to revolutionaries must have been a long and painful road for most of the founders, (except probably Patrick Henry), changing their reverence and love for their godlike Mother Country who’s Empire stretched further than that of Caesar’s or Alexander the Great’s to a hostile contempt and utter hatred for England. Just as John Adams had done in defending the redcoats after the bloody Boston Massacre of 1770 and slowly became more bold against England and her cruelties, Franklin’s turn on England was a slow, hard, and difficult procession like that of a long drawn-out single note going higher and higher as tension built and tyranny spread.

It is impossible we should think of Submission to a Government, that has with the most wanton Barbarity and Cruelty, burnt our defenceless Towns in the midst of Winter, excited the Savages to massacre our Farmers, and our Slaves to murder their Masters, and is even now bringing foreign Mercenaries to deluge our Settlements with Blood.
- Benjamin Franklin to Lord Howe, August 1776

The book did of course have its flaws. Cramming someone as great as Franklin, his life, genius, accolades, and historical context into a 300-something page book felt, well cramped. Long-winded sentences and even whole chapters on historical relevance and context seemed a bit exhaustive, like a handkerchief was needed to wipe my brow just from reading it! But learning of Franklin, his many hoaxes, and his extraordinary genius was by all means entertaining and fascinating.

Mr. Strahan,
You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority which has doomed my Country to Destruction. You have begun to burn our Towns, and murder our People. Look upon your Hands! They are stained with the Blood of your Relations! You and I were long Friends: You are now my Enemy, and I am, Yours, B. Franklin
Benjamin Franklin’s hoax letter to William Strahan, 1775

[Sarah W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Benjamin Franklin of this history is both a legendary Founding Father and a man who changes as the circumstances around him shift. He begins as a businessman, becomes a scientist, philosopher, and public servant. He spends many years in London and expresses views in line with British imperialism. Then, as the American colonies move towards revolution, Franklin shifts again - becoming an American and a diplomat. This volume highlights these changes in Franklin's views and makes for a fascinating read on one of the most remarkable founders.

[Kyle Suratte · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pimp. Bicameralism is bad.

[Vincent Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon Wood is really one of my favorite historians. What I think he does particularly well is to put the American revolution in the context of wider worldwide events and intellectual movements. The revolution for Wood is not in isolation but to be understood in wider circles of Enlightenment philosophy, European rivalry, as well as post-revolutionary needs for symbols. I'm not a fan of blatant revisionism for revisionism's sake, but I think Wood's original and creative ways of interpreting history adds to our understanding in a solid way. In his book about Benjamin Franklin he seriously challenges the myths that have grown up around the founding father. He's done a great job of both bebunking or at least qualifying some of the mythical characteristics as well as explaining how and why these myths arose in the first place. Wood really tries to dig into how Franklin felt and his ideologies, which are complex and dynamic; this makes the book somewhat speculative at points, but I think that's the nature of historical scholarship. The biography is structured well, focusing on some key moments rather than Franklin's entire life and written in a clear simple matter. One of Wood's greatest strengths is to express complicated ideas in simple language and make academica more accessible to all. A great short read for anyone interested in American history.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past couple of nights I have been reading Gordon S. Wood's The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Penguin Press, 2004). Wood is the Alva O. Way professor at Brown University and is well represented in any American comprehensive reading list. He has written a valuable book about Benjamin Franklin's place, and often misplace, in American history. The book is a study of how popular representations of Franklin changed from the 18th century, through the 19th century and into the 20th century. Wood problematizes historical representations of Franklin and in the process outlines how he has been used by American popular history to help Americans define themselves. In the process of deconstructing popular representations of Franklin, Wood remains sensitive to Franklin's own constantly changing representations of himself. Wood is familiar with the live and work of Franklin and shows how a lifetime of study can result in a crisp, clear popular history. At the same time he also illuminates shifting concepts about identity, status and place in the 18th and 19th centuries and how representations of Franklin served as one of the key lynchpins for such change.

[Michael Jolls · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title requires a brief explanation: "Americanization" as in a conversion. There's a similarity to Moses, by way of the beloved prince of an empire who rejects the tyrannical behavior and joins the rebels. So too Dr. Franklin infatuation with Great Britain. Gordon Wood spends most of the biography explaining Dr. Franklin on modern terms, enriching the context of his decisions, and explaining how Dr. Franklin was the first entrepreneur. Could have trimmed down the superfluous tone of the narrative, yet the book does it's job.