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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Paperback)
by Walter Isaacson
| Category:
American history, American revolution, Biography |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
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¥ 158.00
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Extremely revealing and readable, this is a remarkable biography of a remarkable man. |
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Author: Walter Isaacson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition
Pub. in: May, 2004
ISBN: 074325807X
Pages: 608
Measurements: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00227
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0743258074
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- Awards & Credential -
The New York Times Bestseller. One of the most acclaimed biographies of Benjamin Franklin. |
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- MSL Picks -
Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life provides a comprehensive yet engaging account of the life and times of the eminent Dr. Franklin. From humble beginnings in Colonial Boston to successful printer, public persona, and man of science in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia to Revolutionary diplomat extraordinaire in the courts of England and France, Isaacson paints a lasting portrait of one of America's most celebrated founders. Franklin's pragmatic philosophy, civic spirit, boundless curiosity, and comfortable sociability are themes developed and interwoven throughout the book.
Pragmatism is introduced as Franklin's guiding principle, with Franklin nobly presented as the father of American middle class values:
Franklin's blend of beliefs would become part of the outlook of much of America's middle class: its faith in the virtues of hard work and frugality, its benevolent belief in voluntary associations to help others, its conservative opposition to handouts that led to laziness and dependency, and its slightly ambivalent resentment of unnecessary luxury, hereditary privileges, and an idle landowning leisure class. (p. 425).
Franklin's pragmatism is revealed in his writings - his Autobiography, his private letters, his letters to newspapers, and, perhaps most enduringly, in his still-famed Poor Richard's Almanac, where maxims on thrift and moderation abound: "make haste slowly," "necessity never made a good bargain," or "a penny saved is a twopence clear" (Isaacson, 2003, p. 99). Isaacson examines the development of Franklin's pragmatism and follows the doctor's faithful adherence to its creed, illustrating the lasting influence of the doctrine on Franklin's public and private behavior.
Franklin's civic spirit, which resulted in the establishment of a lending library, fire brigade, night watchmen corps, hospital, militia, and college (p. 102), proves another of Franklin's defining characteristics. Isaacson shows Franklin's civic mindedness to be rooted in his religious philosophy - a philosophy grounded in tolerance and good works (and perhaps a bit of pragmatism as well!): "The purpose of religion [according to Franklin] should be to make men better and to improve society; and any sect or creed that did so was fine with him" (p. 94).
The breadth and depth of Franklin's curiosity is underscored by his forays into scientific theory and the practical application thereof. Franklin not only discovered the nature of electricity but he "tamed it" with the invention of the lightning rod. Bifocals, batteries, air and water currents, stoves, street lights, typefaces, refrigeration, and catheters - Franklin investigated all manner of phenomena and invented all manner of apparatus throughout his 84 years.
Yet, despite Franklin's practicality, earnest do-good drive, and scientific mind, he was a gregarious man, at ease in a wide variety of settings and whose company was sought by young and old alike. In 1783, Franklin's 14 year-old grandson Benny wrote of his 77 year-old grandfather, "[He is] very different from other old persons... for they are fretful and complaining and dissatisfied, and my grandpapa is laughing and cheerful like a young person" (p. 418).
Isaacson's portrayal of Franklin is a lesson in lifelong learning and instruction. From his youth to his senior years, we watch Franklin ever working on improving himself, his community, and those around him. Franklin proves to be both a consummate self-directed learner and a tireless organizer and facilitator of adult learning and networking associations. We find him in the book's opening chapters teaching himself and then his playmates how to swim in the Boston's Mystic River. We watch as Franklin forms his Junto (or Leather Apron Club) - a group of "tradesmen and artisans" who "discussed issues of the day, debated philosophical topics, devised schemes for self-improvement, and formed a network for the furtherance of their own careers" (p. 55). As the senior statesman at the Constitutional Convention, we see Franklin facilitating the compromises necessary to "form a more perfect union."
Franklin's interest in self and community proves personally transformational as horizons open before him and opportunity often knocks at his door. Franklin's effect on others appears equally transformational as responsive government and expanded social services are introduced to Philadelphia. Ultimately, Franklin's pursuit of personal enrichment combined with his sense of social purpose affects the founding and the course of a new nation. Franklin provides a worthy model for adult learners and instructors alike.
Too, Franklin is testament to the power of the individual. Isaacson, in his closing remarks, writes, "[Franklin's] focus tended to be on how ordinary issues affect everyday lives, and on how ordinary people could build a better society" (p. 493). Franklin is not deterred by his lowly origins or his lack of formal education. Franklin is an example to all those who suffer personal setbacks or institutionalized injustice - a single person can initiate change and alter the status quo - both at a personal level and at a societal level.
Isaacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin is a lively albeit lengthy read. Isaacson writes for the layman; although the text is well-footnoted, the tone of the writing is neither academic nor pedantic. While the book is satisfying in and of itself, and can be read and enjoyed without exhaustive prior knowledge, additional and somewhat similar texts (in style, that is) which would enhance the reader's appreciation of both the life and times of Franklin include several other recent founding father biographies of merit, namely: The American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis and John Adams by David McCullough. Also, Franklin's very own Autobiography is eminently readable, providing a remarkable window into the personality and character of the man himself.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life is a study in early America of a singular American who proves to be surprisingly modern and recognizable. This tale of the fallible but ever-thoughtful Franklin is inspirational to the end, and a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the power of a proactive outlook and can-do attitude.
(From quoting V. Clark, USA)
Target readers:
Readers interested in American revolution, American history or American national characteristics, executives, government leaders and entrepreneurs who seek inspiration from Ben Franklin, English majors and advanced English learners.
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Walter Isaacson, the president of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Kissinger: A Biography and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.
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From Publisher
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 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.
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.
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Chapter One: Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America
His arrival in Philadelphia is one of the most famous scenes in autobiographical literature: the bedraggled 17-year-old runaway, cheeky yet with a pretense of humility, straggling off the boat and buying three puffy rolls as he wanders up Market Street. But wait a minute. There's something more. Peel back a layer and we can see him as a 65-year-old wry observer, sitting in an English country house, writing this scene, pretending it's part of a letter to his son, an illegitimate son who has become a royal governor with aristocratic pretensions and needs to be reminded of his humble roots.
A careful look at the manuscript peels back yet another layer. Inserted into the sentence about his pilgrim's progress up Market Street is a phrase, written in the margin, in which he notes that he passed by the house of his future wife, Deborah Read, and that "she, standing at the door, saw me and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward ridiculous appearance." So here we have, in a brief paragraph, the multilayered character known so fondly to his author as Benjamin Franklin: as a young man, then seen through the eyes of his older self, and then through the memories later recounted by his wife. It's all topped off with the old man's deft little affirmation - "as I certainly did" - in which his self-deprecation barely cloaks the pride he felt regarding his remarkable rise in the world.
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us. George Washington's colleagues found it hard to imagine touching the austere general on the shoulder, and we would find it even more so today. Jefferson and Adams are just as intimidating. But Ben Franklin, that ambitious urban entrepreneur, seems made of flesh rather than of marble, addressable by nickname, and he turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind those newfangled spectacles. He speaks to us, through his letters and hoaxes and autobiography, not with orotund rhetoric but with a chattiness and clever irony that is very contemporary, sometimes unnervingly so. We see his reflection in our own time.
He was, during his eighty-four-year-long 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 devised bifocal glasses and clean-burning stoves, charts of the Gulf Stream and theories about the contagious nature of the common cold. He launched various civic improvement schemes, such as a lending library, college, volunteer fire corps, insurance association, and matching grant fund-raiser. He helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor and philosophical pragmatism. In foreign policy, he created an approach that wove together idealism with balance-of-power realism. And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies and creating a federal model for a national government.
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.
Partly, it was a matter of image. As a young printer in Philadelphia, he carted rolls of paper through the streets to give the appearance of being industrious. As an old diplomat in France, he wore a fur cap to portray the role of backwoods sage. In between, he created an image for himself as a simple yet striving tradesman, assiduously honing the virtues - diligence, frugality, honesty - of a good shopkeeper and beneficent member of his community.
But the image he created was rooted in reality. Born and bred a member of the leather-aproned class, Franklin was, at least for most of his life, more comfortable with artisans and thinkers than with the established elite, and he was allergic to the pomp and perks of a hereditary aristocracy. Throughout his life he would refer to himself as
"B. Franklin, printer."
From these attitudes sprang what may be Franklin's most important vision: an American national identity based on the virtues and values of its middle class. Instinctively more comfortable with democracy than were some of his fellow founders, and devoid of the snobbery that later critics would feel toward his own shopkeeping values, he had faith in the wisdom of the common man and felt that a new nation would draw its strength from what he called "the middling people." Through his self-improvement tips for cultivating personal virtues and his civic-improvement schemes for furthering the common good, he helped to create, and to celebrate, a new ruling class of ordinary citizens.
The complex interplay among various facets of Franklin's character - his ingenuity and unreflective wisdom, his Protestant ethic divorced from dogma, the principles he held firm and those he was willing to compromise - means that each new look at him reflects and refracts the nation's changing values. He has been vilified in romantic periods and lionized in entrepreneurial ones. Each era appraises him anew, and in doing so reveals some assessments of itself.
Franklin has a particular resonance in twenty-first-century America. A successful publisher and consummate networker with an inventive curiosity, he would have felt right at home in the information revolution, and his unabashed striving to be part of an upwardly mobile meritocracy made him, in social critic David Brooks's phrase, "our founding Yuppie." We can easily imagine having a beer with him after work, showing him how to use the latest digital device, sharing the business plan for a new venture, and discussing the most recent political scandals or policy ideas. He would laugh at the latest joke about a priest and a rabbi, or about a farmer's daughter. We would admire both his earnestness and his self-aware irony. And we would relate to the way he tried to balance, sometimes uneasily, the pursuit of reputation, wealth, earthly virtues, and spiritual values.
Some who see the reflection of Franklin in the world today fret about a shallowness of soul and a spiritual complacency that seem to permeate a culture of materialism. They say that he teaches us how to live a practical and pecuniary life, but not an exalted existence. Others see the same reflection and admire the basic middle-class values and democratic sentiments that now seem under assault from elitists, radicals, reactionaries, and other bashers of the bourgeoisie. They regard Franklin as an exemplar of the personal character and civic virtue that are too often missing in modern America.
Much of the admiration is warranted, and so too are some of the qualms. But the lessons from Franklin's life are more complex than those usually drawn by either his fans or his foes. Both sides too often confuse him with the striving pilgrim he portrayed in his autobiography. They mistake his genial moral maxims for the fundamental faiths that motivated his actions.
His morality was built on a sincere belief in leading a virtuous life, serving the country he loved, and hoping to achieve salvation through good works. That led him to make the link between private virtue and civic virtue, and to suspect, based on the meager evidence he could muster about God's will, that these earthly virtues were linked to heavenly ones as well. As he put it in the motto for the library he founded, "To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine." In comparison to contemporaries such as Jonathan Edwards, who believed that men were sinners in the hands of an angry God and that salvation could come through grace alone, this outlook might seem somewhat complacent. In some ways it was, but it was also genuine.
Whatever view one takes, it is useful to engage anew with Franklin, for in doing so we are grappling with a fundamental issue: How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, worthy, moral, and spiritually meaningful? For that matter, which of these attributes is most important? These are questions just as vital for a self-satisfied age as they were for a revolutionary one.
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The New York Times Book Review (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-22 00:00>
A thoroughly researched, crisply written, convincingly argued chronicle. |
The New York Times (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-22 00:00>
In its common sense, clarity and accessibility, it is a fitting reflection of Franklin's sly pragmatism... This may be the book that most powerfully drives a new pendulum swing of the Franklin reputation.
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The Washington Post Book World (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-22 00:00>
The most readable full-length Franklin biography available.
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Jay Freeman (Booklist) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-22 00:00>
Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and even Adams stare down at you from Mt. Olympus. But Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the most accessible of our Founding Fathers. He looks out benignly from our $100 bill. He dispenses grandfatherly wisdom spiced with humor from Poor Richard's Almanac. Of course, Franklin was a complicated and interesting personality, as this book illustrates. Isaacson, formerly the CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time magazine, is currently president of the Aspen Institute. He has written a chronological biography that pays due tribute to Franklin's genius while revealing his harder edges. Franklin was clearly driven and supremely ambitious. In serving his ambition, he could be manipulative and a shameless self-promoter. His personal and political loyalties often shifted, yet he never forgave the "betrayal" when his illegitimate son remained loyal to Britain.
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