Rating: 
Summary: Almost a perfect biography
Review: I found the book interesting, and thoroughly researched. But I had the recurring impression that I was either attending a university lecture or reading someone's doctoral dissertation. Most disconcerting was the occasional coy reference by the author to "remember that name, it comes up later."
Come, now: That does not belong in a serious work, and I was under the impression such was the author's aspiration.
For a perfect biography, read "John Adams" by David McCullough.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a pretty dull Biography
Review: The author tries hard to convince you that Franklin is this superstar world leader, but just doesn't sell it very well. I believe Franklin is everything that history makes him out to be, but this book is written in such a dull manner that you never really get it. I guarantee everyone who has read this book paused halfway through it and were relieved to discover that the last 50 pages are appendices and such ending the misery much earlier.
Rating:
Summary: Larger than life...
Review: I have always been interested in Thomas Jefferson, and always believed that he was the true genius and renaissance man of his time. It wasn't until reading Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life that I discovered how underrated Franklin is in the recording of our nations history. There are many reasons for the overlooking of Franklin in our past. First, he wasn't a young buck at the founding of our nation--unlike his much younger colleagues including Jefferson, Adams and Washington. He never became president, unlike the three names just mentioned. Also, he did much of his work for the nation behind the scenes and aboard--first in England trying to change conditions that brought about the Revolution, and then in France trying to convince the French to step into the war on our side. He was also influential in negotiating a peace settlement with the British.Despite all his success, Franklin always considered himself first and foremost a printer. He was proud that through hard work and effort, he was able to overcome his lack of formal schooling and become successful. He didn't believe that a man should receive automatic stature in society based on his name or position. He wasn't a religious man in terms of organized religion, but was a firm believer that you served God by serving man. He constantly worked on his "virtues" and kept a list of how he fared on 13 different ones each week. I have always thought of Jefferson as the primary inventor of this era, but Jefferson's inventions were mainly mechanical in nature. It was Franklin who was the true scientist of his time. He experimented with the relationship between colors and heat, theorized (correctly) on how colds were spread, invented bifocals, figured out how nor'easters traveled, experimented with how oil affects water, and invented the Franklin Stove, the lightening rod and the armonica. Of course, he is most remembered for his experiments with electricity. Much of the electrical vocabulary we still use today was first coined by Franklin. Franklin was also a man of great convictions, and used his pen and his presses to forward his beliefs. Later in life, he became an abolitionist and fought for the end of slavery. Still, he wasn't a man without faults. He was especially cold and neglectful toward his family. However, all in all, Isaacson gives a thorough overview of Franklin's life, trying to balance the public man with the private one. The one major flaw I found in this book is that I felt Isaacson wraps things up too quickly at the end at the expense of the Constitutional Convention. Also, many events could have been explained in greater detail. But overall, it is a great biography that provides good insight into this giant of a man.
Rating: 
Summary: not worthy of your time
Review: This is a very boring book that is written in a way that will frustrate any reader.
Rating: 
Summary: What a Life!!!
Review: Most of us know Franklin as the man on the $50 dollar bill, co-author of The Declaration, the kite flyer and perhaps as the creator of a few of Poor Richard's sayings. Of course he was those things, but he was much more. Isaacson demonstrates the true genius of Dr. Franklin and the scope of his life's activities whose impact we still feel today. Franklin's accomplishments and contributions to our national identity were truly amazing. From humble beginnings, he became a wealthy printer whose influence on 18th century thought was remarkable. On one page, Isaacson demonstrates the impact of Poor Richard by citing a littany of wise sayings that are well know today and remain as appropriate as they were when Franklin published them. After retiring from the printing business, Franklin moved on to other pursuits including scientist, inventor, diplomat, revolutionary and sage. He was, at various times, the toast of England, of France and of the Colonies. His accomplishments in any of his fields of endeavor would have qualified him as a great man. The totality of his accomplishments is almost beyond comprehension. I have often wondered what historical figure I would most like to have known. I now believe that Benjamin Franklin would be that person.
Rating:
Summary: More than just flying kites
Review: For those who thought our forefathers were stodgy and old-fashioned, "Benjamin Franklin: An Amercian Life" is for you. This portrait of a remarkable man who had his hands in just about everything is extremely well-written. Isaacson clearly knows his stuff and not only that, knows how to write about it so that it's elevated to the realms of entertaining reading. The most enjoyable and enlightening aspect of Isaacson's book was learning what Franklin "wasn't." Not as nationalistic as we might think, Franklin saw himself as a loyal citizen of England. He even shunned Independence Day at one time. And there's more examples that will dispel some of the "myths" surrounding this great man. But the most intriguing aspect of the book, for me, was the writing. Kudos to Mr. Isaacson for this great book. Also recommended: Stonewall Jackson, Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae, and The Secret Life of Bees by Kidd
Rating: 
Summary: An American Fulcrum
Review: Franklin's extraordinarily heroic and active life is well-portrayed in this biography by Walter Isaacson, but the biographer gets one central thing wrong. He repeatedly paints Franklin as the first and best member of the American middle class, by which he means that Franklin avoided excesses, worked hard, got involved in his community, avoided argument, and never bogged himself down with dogma. Franklin did all these things, it's true. But more than being just a member of the middle class, he was a member of the unusual class of people who live to solve problems: whether they are commercial, political, social, familial, scientific or practical. Franklin's life should be envied...you get that from this biography. But you get it despite the author's mistaken emphasis.
Rating:
Summary: Advocate of an American Middle Class Society
Review: In the last chapter of the book the author noted "...we must rescue Franklin from the schoolbook caricature of a genial codger flying kites in the rain and spouting homespun maxims about a penny saved being a penny earned. We must also rescue him from the critics who would confuse him with the character he carefully crafted in his Autobiography." and the text continues "To assess Franklin properly, we must view him, instead, in all his complexity." Walter Isaacson, the author, does an excellent job rescuing Benjamin Franklin in this biography. Franklin grew up in Boston where he was expected to attend Harvard and become a minister. Franklin lacked interest in religion, and at age ten his father placed Franklin in an apprenticeship later becoming an apprentice in his brother's print shop. With this redirection, Isaacson notes "...Franklin acquired something that was perhaps just as enlightening as a Harvard education: the training and experiences of a publisher, printer, and newspaperman." In addition, Franklin was an avid reader and was self-educated in many areas. At age 17 Franklin ran away from home and began a printing apprenticeship in Philadelphia. The text gives an excellent narrative of Franklin's history as he progressed as a printer, author, publisher, philosopher, scientist and finally a diplomat. Throughout his long career, Franklin retained his affection for the middle class and its virtues of hard work and frugality while opposing the privileges of inheritance and wealth. Chapter Six provides an account of Franklin's accomplishments as a scientist and inventor. "His work on electricity was recognized as ushering in a scientific revolution...." And "the terms positive and negative charges devised by Franklin are the ones we still use today." The author's gives a fascinating account of Franklin's assignment in Great Britain where Franklin concluded "Britain would therefore be best served....by treating the people of the colonies as full citizens of the empire, with the same liberties and economic aspirations." The reader can only speculate what the United States and the world would be like today had Britain accepted Franklin's vision of the British Empire. When it became clear that Britain has little sympathy for colonial rights, Franklin became an American patriot. Now a political outcast in Britain, Franklin nevertheless tried informally to resolve the crisis; but failing in this endeavor, he returned to America in April 1775 where he became a signers of the Declaration of Independence. With the onset of the Revolution, Franklin was sent to France where he was received as the world's most famous America. Isaacson narrates Franklin's effective diplomatic work in France noting that "into his hands, almost as much as those of Washington and others, had been placed the fate of the Revolution" and notes "he would display a dexterity that would make him the greatest American diplomat of all times." Here "in his spare time Franklin perfected one of his most famous and useful invention: bifocal glasses." When the Revolution ended and the peace treat with Britain was signed, Franklin returned to America. The text now gives an interesting account of Franklin's contributions at the 1787 Constitutional Convention where he proposed the critical workable compromise. He proposed that Representatives to the lower House would be popularly elected and apportioned by population, but in the Senate "the Legislatures of the several States shall choose and send an equal number of Delegates." After the Convention, in the last year of his life, he embarked on a public mission to abolish slavery presenting a formal abolition petition to Congress in February 1790. The petition was rejected by Congress. At the age of 84, Franklin died on April 17, 1790. The text gives a balanced account of Franklin, noting his poor family relations which included a physical abandonment of his wife. He also effectively separated control and affection of some of his grandchildren from their parents. Regarding Franklin's womanizing, Isaacson concludes "Among his many reputations was that of a legendary and lecherous old lover who had many mistresses among the ladies of Paris. The reality....was somewhat less titillating. His fames female friends were mistresses only of his mind and soul. Yet that hardly made their relationships less interesting." The last chapter titled CONCLUSIONS is extremely interesting as the assessment of Franklin over time is given. He was popular following his death, but in the early 1800s was rejected during the philosophic Romantic Era that followed the Age Of Enlightment. His star ascended again following the Civil War, but the pendulum again swung against him in the 1920s. Today Franklin receives mixed but generally positive reviews. Everything the reader would want to know about Ben Franklin is answered in this book while Walter Isaacson rescues him from the image of "a genial codger flying kites in the rain."
Rating:
Summary: Well-written Biography
Review: Isaacson does a wonderful job of telling the story of Franklin's life, with many fascinating details along the way. This book is one of those rare biographies that reads like an engrossing novel. One is given excellent insight into the politics of the American Revolution both in America and in Europe at the time. This is one of the best biographies you will ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A new, and revealing view of Franklin as founding father
Review: This bestseller keeps hanging in there week after week with good reason. It presents a new view of Franklin as a founding father. There are other founding fathers, of course: Washington, Jefferson, and Adams come to mind almost immediately. But Franklin was different from them. Author Isaacson describes him as: "America's best scientist, inventor,
diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and also one of its most practical, though not most profound,political thinkers." Isaacson has hit upon one other thing that Franklin did throughout his adult life that has molded Americans into what they are today. He believed in the virtues and values of a middle class. This idea was new to the world because it was not until Franklin's time that the concept of a middle class even came into being. Up to then, the world was divided mostly into rich and poor, with nothing in between. Unlike Washington,
Jefferson, or even Adams, Franklin believed in the common man; he believed common men could be trusted to run a government based on human decency. And Franklin, ever PR conscious, worked atcreating an image of himself as a common man. Indeed, before the lords and nobles of the French Court, as an aging diplomat, he wore a fur cap, depicting himself as a backwoods sage (but he extracted enough money from them to keep our Revolution going). Throughout, the book reveals many new insights into the life and character of this giant of American history. The more the author tells us about the real Franklin, the greater his appeal as a founding father...he was funny and bright. Washington, Jefferson, or Adams, though great, or perhaps greater giants of American history, tended toward the serious and heavy side of human relationships. Franklin possessed a fun-loving nature,
a ready wit, and at the same time, was an astute observer of the human scene as well as a delightful drinking companion. If you enjoy reading about people who made this country what it is today, surely there is no better volume than Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: an American Life. It's clear that Isaacson thought long and hard about the apt title. Franklin's profound influence upon on us as Americans is very much with us today.
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