It portrays Colonial and Revolutionary America.

Plainly yet vividly written, its 18th-century prose still accessible to ordinary readers more than two centuries later. 'People who have read one or more of the many current books about Benjamin Franklin really ought to direct their attention to the man himself, specifically to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. This edition also includes biographical notes, a chronology of Franklin's life, and an updated bibliography. Morgan writes about Franklin's dual allegiance as an American and a subject of an English king-and his emergence as a leader of the American Revolution. In a new foreword, eminent Franklin scholar Edmund S.

Labaree places the autobiography in literary and historical contexts. Prepared by the editors of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin this definitive edition is drawn with scrupulous care from the original manuscript in Franklin's handwriting now in the Henry E. Written ostensibly as a letter to his son William, Franklin's Autobiography offers his reflections on philosophy and religion, politics, war, education, material success, and the status of women. Its text is the most reliable (the Franklin papers are at Yale) and its supplementary material is uniformly useful.”-Jonathan Yardley, Washington PostĪ classic of eighteenth-century American history and literature, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography has had an influence perhaps unequaled by any other book by an American writer. “Among the many editions available-read Yale's. Related in an honest, open, unaffected style, this highly readable account offers a wonderfully intimate glimpse of the Founding Father sometimes called 'the wisest American.The authoritative edition of Franklin's autobiography, with a foreword by the eminent Franklin scholar Edmund S. Covering his life up to his prewar stay in London as representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, this charming self-portrait recalls Franklin's boyhood, his determination to achieve high moral standards, his work as a printer, experiments with electricity, political career, experiences during the French and Indian War, and more. Franklin's extraordinary range of interests and accomplishments are brilliantly recorded in his Autobiography, considered one of the classics of the genre. He also invented bifocals, a stove that is still manufactured, a water-harmonica, and the lightning rod. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later was involved in negotiating the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War.

Summary: Blessed with enormous talents and the energy and ambition to go with them, Franklin was a statesman, author, inventor, printer, and scientist.

Franklin the autobiography