benjamin franklin walter isaacson review

Leo Lemay(New York: Norton, 1986).Īlthough the Autobiography is Franklin’s only book, he was a prolific writer of essays, letters, pamphlets, and almanacs, all full of fascinating reflections on human nature and on perennial moral and political problems. An excellent edition of the Autobiography with a collection of relevant Franklin letters and critical appraisals is the Norton Critical edition, edited by J.

In making us laugh at him and with him, Franklin teaches us to see the world with his rare combination of unvarnished realism and friendly, engaged acceptance. In the process we learn of his projects for self-improvement and the way they were continually bubbling over to create voluntary associations for self-help on a personal, civic, and even continental scale.

It traces his life’s story from its humble beginnings in Puritan New England, through his youthful escapades and adventures, his struggles to establish an independent printing business, and his early scientific investigations, up through the launching of his diplomatic career. His Autobiography is a classic of the genre and of American letters. Of fine books and essays on Franklin there has been no shortage, but far and away the best remains Franklin’s own. Self-made and self-taught, eminently practical yet endlessly curious, a philanthropist who took a personal interest in every project he supported, a prolific inventor and discoverer, the original community organizer and a democratic statesman without parallel in the history of American diplomacy, he is also the Founder who perhaps has the most to teach us today, both about the art of living and about restoring civility to our public sphere and a principled prudence to our foreign policy.

Benjamin franklin walter isaacson review