Benjamin Franklin : An American Life

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately Disappointed
Review: If you're looking for an uplifting inspiring book about a great man this unfortunately is not it. I found it to be focused and even bent to show a faulty man who did some great things but seemed to dull the edge of what was a very sharp man. It had of course alot of good information, it just seemed to be directed in a somewhat negatively interpreted manner for the authors own purposes or personality.

Rating:
Summary: A Grand Biography For a Grand Gent
Review: Isaacson writes a grand story of a truly astounding man. Even for me, a teacher of American History, Franklin had been reduced to something of cliche. He was the charming man who I sometimes saw walking the streets of Philadelphia when I resided there (seriously, there is a great actor who plays him). Anyway, this book is superbly researched and well written. It is accessible to all kinds of Franklin fans (or soon to be fans), students, scholars, and the average "medicore" class (as Franklin, according to the book, lovingly called them). It is a fitting way to write a book about Franklin--filled with solid analysis and some great stories. I laughed out loud many times. The last section which is a defense of Franklin is outstanding. The book is not a transcendent work. Nor should it be. It an honest and fair treatment of a man who should be revered. Franklin was brillant, but always real. So this grand biography.

Rating:
Summary: The Soul of America
Review: Benjamin Franklin typified the soul or virtues that most of us Americans hold dear. He rose from being a poor boy to becoming wealthy and distinguished in many fields. He extolled the virtues of the middle class, merchants, and business people over the nobility and titled gentry of Europe. He courageously called for the independence of America when many people still wanted to retain a loyalty to Great Britain. Putting on another hat, he successfully negotiated with first France and than Britain during the Revolutionary War to gain America's independence. Franklin was a successful writer and printer, an inventor, a civic-minded citizen, and a statesman.

Walter Isaacson's book is successful in portraying the wide diversity of Franklin's efforts and achievements. He also delves into Franklin's personal life which included beliefs in Deism as opposed to traditional Christianity. Franklin fathered a child out of wedlock and Isaacson explains how despite this Franklin took responsibility for his actions and did his best to raise this son.

Nevertheless, Isaacson's book is not free from criticism. It is not as interesting or well written as other books about this same period of history. For example, "John Adams" by David McCullough is far more captivating. "American Sphinx" by Joe Ellis is another book that does a good job of keeping the attention of a novice reading about the founding fathers. Finally, "Thomas Jefferson: an Intimate History" by Fawn Brodie is another fascinating account of the men who made America. One gets the idea Isaacson is so determined to cram our heads with details that the book loses some of its allure.

Books like these remind us that the founding fathers were human beings with faults and not deities. Depending on how harsh a critic one is, one could argue Franklin had few friends because he was not loyal to them. One could contend he mistreated his wife leaving her for years by herself in America while he carried on in Great Britain arguing over various colonial issues. One could say he treated his son William, unduly harshly, because he chose to side with the British instead of those in America seeking independence. One could also argue Franklin was a poor team player as a diplomat and couldn't get along with either John Adams or Mr. Lee who were also appointed to negotiate with the French.

However, on the balance it is clear Franklin's virtues far outweighed his faults. This is an authoritative book about one of the most significant Americans who has ever lived.

Rating:
Summary: A few miscellaneous comments
Review: This is a well-written, detailed, and overall very impressive biography of Franklin, very reminiscent of the recent John Adam's bio. I've read numerous articles about the great founding father over the years, and one other biography, and have read his autobiography, but nothing so extensive as this. As others have already written very detailed reviews, I just had a few miscellaneous comments.

The author does a fine job of showing what a Renaissance man Franklin truly was. Most people are familiar with his greatest accomplishments, such as his research into electricity and his roles in the founding of the nation, but he had many other less well-known achievements as well that were also interesting and important. He founded the Saturday Evening Post, which ran for almost 200 years until it finally died in the 70's or 80's, if I remember correctly. He emphasized practical education rather than the Latin-based curricula popular at the time in schools, and founded academies to implement his ideas. He invented bifocals and a flexible urinary catheter which helped people with kidney stones. He invented Daylight Savings Time and originated the Farmer's Almanac, which still survives today. He invented a more efficient iron furnace stove and an early odometer for measuring distance, which he attached to his carriage. He was responsible for the creation of the U.S. Post Office, and invented the lightning rod, which was the invention Franklin was most famous for during his lifetime, since it saved numerous tall structures from damage.

I'll mention only other of his scientific accomplishments, since it's not as well known as his work in electricity. Franklin observed that northeast storms begin in the southwest, and thought it was strange that storms travel in a direction opposite to their prevailing winds. Today we know this is because of the the way in which cold and warm fronts are affected by high and low pressure zones that form in the atmostphere, but Franklin anticipated these advances by predicting that a storm's course could be plotted. He once rode his horse through a storm and chased a whirlwind 3/4 of a mile during his research on storms. So Franklin was even something of a meteorologist. After witnessing the Montgolfier bothers balloon flight in 1783 in Paris, he predicted that ballons would be used for spy surveillance and for dropping bombs.

Franklin had a significant influence on my own life. Coincidently, I discovered and read Franklin's autobiography when I was 12 years old, which was how old Franklin was when he left home. I took many of his principles to heart as a young boy, and they've served me well. His values of hard work, moderation in all things, and insatiable intellectual curiosity were ones that influenced me strongly as well. In college, I studied and eventually did advanced work in both the humanities and the hard sciences, although that meant a lot of extra homework for myself, since the advanced math courses were quite difficult, since I claim no great talents in that area. But I believe it made me a better scholar and researcher, even if my real scholarly talents lay elsewhere. But if nothing else it exemplifed Franklin's emphasis on practical education and useful knowledge and skills as opposed to impractical ones.

Overall, a fine new addition to scholarship on Benjamin Franklin and a man whose ideas had an important influence on my own life.

Rating:
Summary: Yay!
Review: I'll keep it short and sweet. It's a long book, but Isaacson's a helluva biographer, and Franklin's a helluva person.

Rating:
Summary: "Our Founding Yuppie": Master of Practical Idealism
Review: In my review of Edmund Morgan's biography of Franklin, I observed that while reading it I felt as if I had been allowed to tag along throughout the course of Franklin's life in much the same manner that I had while David McCullough examines the life of John Adams. There is a compelling sense of immediacy in Morgan's and McCullough's biographies. That is less true of Isaacson's approach. His primary purpose, rather, is to have his reader understand and appreciate Franklin from a 21st century perspective: "We see his reflection in our own time."

To at least this reader, it seems as if Isaacson had just returned from a roundtrip visit in a time machine and then at a press conference said "Let me tell you all about Benjamin Franklin ...and share my thoughts about his significance to us today." He draws upon the same research sources that other Franklin biographers have. Both halos and warts are duly acknowledged. Of special interest to me is what Isaacson has to say about Franklin's pragmatic approach to both problems and opportunities, from the years of apprenticeship in his brother's printing company in New York until just before his death when he made one final (unsuccessful) attempt to have slavery abolished.

When quoting social critic David Brooks's phrase, "our founding Yuppie," Isaacson correctly suggests that throughout the 84 years of his life and work, Franklin was sustained by an entrepreneurial spirit. He became "America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of the most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers....But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself."

Isaacson carefully organizes his material within sixteen chapters (from "Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America" to "Sage: Philadelphia, 1785-1790") and then in the final chapter shares his "Conclusions." I suggest that two of the sections which follow ("Cast of Characters" and "Chronology") be read first, thus providing a frame of reference within which to gain a better perspective on the life and work of "our founding Yuppie."

Each year, I make it a point to re-read Franklin's Autobiography as well as Thoreau's Walden and Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" inorder to re-connect with some of the most powerful ideas which have guided and shaped our nation's intellectual history. I have always been especially fascinated by Franklin the man with whom I feel a personal rapport that I do not with Thoreau and Emerson. It is Franklin's compelling humanity which enlightens and sustains Morgan's and Isaacson's correlations of Franklin with the age in which he lived. For these and other reasons, I am deeply grateful to them for increasing and nourishing my appreciation of him.

Isaacson's substantial (493-page) but ever-lively examination of Franklin's continuous self-reinvention does indeed leave no doubt whatsoever of his relevance to our own time, centuries later, as we also struggle with a fundamental issue: "How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, moral, and spiritually meaningful? For that matter, which of these attributes is most important?" Isaacson goes on to suggest, "These are questions just as vital for a self-satisfied age as they are for a revolutionary one." Today and for years to come, how well we answer these questions will to a great extent determine whether or not we prove worthy of a heritage to which Franklin made so many and such unique contributions.

Rating:
Summary: Huzzah!
Review: This may be the last word on Americana. Ben Franklin, perhaps like Isaacson himself, is a journalist...technologist... entrepreneur...politician who wants the best for his country and his time. His take on Franklin is a look into the soul of America, though Isaacson goes a little light on Franklin's philandering and cuts him a break on the veracity of his kite-flying experiment. But still, wow, what a read. It makes you wish we could live in the time of Franklin. At least we get to live in the time of Isaacson.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing and informative...
Review: The biographies about old Ben Franklin, both juvenile and scholarly, would fill several bookshelves. He was a renaissance man in the truest sense of this term, as well as the quintessential man of the Enlightenment. What struck me about this particular biography was his approach to life - a curiosity that knew no bounds, and a sly, ironic wit - a man who did not take himself too seriously. Apart from his many scientific discoveries, he was a diplomat of great skill. In fact, if it weren't for Mr. Franklin, the American Revolution would have taken a different turn. He walked the halls of French power, networking, prodding, submerging himself amongst the French power brokers, creating alliances that changed the course of history: a courtier of the first order. He was also a ladies man, conducting deep though platonic relationships with the ladies of the French court. In many cases, these ladies of the court held the reigns of power, and knowing them furthered the American cause. Franklin was a complicated man, as geniuses can be, and this biography explores some of these contradictions of character, though in a way that is accessible for young readers and Franklin scholars. In other words, this is a highly entertaining biography for all readers interested in the life of this American legend.

This biography is highly accessible because Isaacson is a talented writer; he combines the scholarly approach with a journalistic flair, presenting the facts of the subject in an entertaining form. Reading this book was an effortless experience; the pages seemed to turn themselves, as if the book was being read to me rather than actually reading it. This was a unique experience, which shows that Isaacson is at the top of his game.

There have been many books written about this great man, but this one appears to be unique because its content is informative and its style, accessible and highly entertaining. If you want to learn a little American history and be absorbed at the same time, I highly recommend An American Life - excellent.

Rating:
Summary: A Serious and Fully Enjoyable Read
Review: If you are looking for a holiday gift that is both serious and enjoyable while capturing much of the spirit of America's founding, you need go no further than "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life."

Isaacson understands something about the American Revolution and the founding fathers that many students of the era never quite get. Each founding father plays an essential role in our becoming an independent republic. Washington is the titan of moral authority on whose integrity our nation rests. Jefferson is the brilliant writer and theorist who helped create modern politics. Madison's systematic hard work created the system of legislative power and constitutional authority that protects our freedoms. Hamilton's understanding of economics and social forces established the capitalist structure, which has made this the wealthiest society in history.

Yet in the deepest sense, these great men were pre-American. They belonged to an earlier, different era where most were landed gentry. Even Hamilton longed for the stability of monarchy.

Only Franklin personified the striving, ambitious, rising system of individual achievement, hard work, thrift and optimism found at the heart of the American spirit. Only Franklin worked his way up in the worlds of business and organized political power in both colonial and national periods. Only Franklin was a world-renowned scientist, founder of corporations, inventor of devices and creator of the American mythos of the common man.

Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" caught intellectually this sudden shift from the stable, serious gentry who dominated the founding to the wild, energetic, boisterous Jacksonians who came to define the American ethos.

Franklin is the precursor to the Jacksonians. He personified, literally lived, the American dream and then captured it in an amazingly self aware, fun to read autobiography, which may be the first great book of the American civilization.

Isaacson has captured and portrayed Franklin in all his glory and complexity. This is a book worth giving any of your friends who would better understand America or any foreigner who wonders at our energy, our resilience, our confidence and our success.

Rating:
Summary: The Model of a Renaissance Man
Review: Benjamin Franklin, though grouped as a founding father with all the others, probably does not receive the accolades he should for his involvement in establishing the United States as an independent nation. The most fascinating aspect of Franklin's life goes along with the title of the book - Franklin was such an ordinary man - of the "meddling" people, as he put it. Benjamin Franklin epitomizes the American Life and Walter Isaacson does a great job proving his point.

This book was a fascinating read that reintroduced me to the American Ideal that has probably been largely forgotten. A man like Franklin could only have existed and thrived in America. The principles he practiced, and the freedoms he loved, are the ones many of us hold dear today, though we largely take them for granted.

Franklin was the epitome of the Renaissance Man - scientist, philosopher, writer, politician - he touched on many subjects and excelled in them all. What an amazing sight it must have been to witness the meeting of Franklin and Virgil in Paris, as this novel describes.

After reading this book I immediately began reading other books about the Founding Fathers. A great read!