Benjamin Franklin Isaacson, Walter

Chronicles the founding fathers life and his multiple careers as a shopkeeper, writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, business strategist, and political leader, while showing how his faith in the wisdom of the common citizen helped forge an American national identity based on the virtues of its middle class. Reprint. 150,000 first printing. *Author: Isaacson, Walter *Subtitle: An American Life *Publication Date: 2004/05/04 *Binding Type: Paperback *Language: English *Depth: 1.75 *Width: 7.00 *Height: 9.00

From the Publisher:
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.

In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin's life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the spunky runaway apprentice who became, during his 84-year life, America's best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard's Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation's alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.

Above all, Isaacson shows how Franklin's unwavering faith in the wisdom of the common citizen and his instinctive appreciation for the possibilities of democracy helped to forge an American national identity based on the virtues and values of its middle class.

Annotation:
In this biography, former CNN chairman Isaacson shows the many facets and incredibly prodigious activity of the Founding Father who was also an inventor, printer, diplomat, businessman, community organizer, and author of an important autobiography. He portrays Franklin as a practical man who championed and embodied middle class values, and who was himself the model for a new kind of American. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.

Author Bio

Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson has won critical acclaim for his biographies of such figures as Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs. "The best way to convey ideas and values is through the tales of people. That's been true since the Bible," he has told interviewers. Isaacson, who holds degrees from Harvard College and Oxford University, began his professional career as a newspaper reporter, and in 1978 he joined the staff of Time magazine, ultimately working his way up from political correspondent to managing editor. He has also held leadership posts at CNN and the Aspen Institute. Despite the demands of those high-profile positions, Isaacson, who lives in Washington, D.C., finds time to regularly publish well-regarded and comprehensive biographies. His 2007 book on Einstein was a favorite of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who handpicked Isaacson to be his biographer. (Although Isaacson initially refused, believing that Jobs was too young and had too many accomplishments ahead of him to warrant a book-length biography, he relented when he realized that the tech entrepreneur, then ill with cancer, might not have long to live.) Jobs was, Isaacson realized, exactly the type of subject he found fascinating. "Sometimes we divide people, the people who are the science geeks and the people who are the humanities geeks," he has explained. "[But] in some ways it's the combination of the humanities and the science that leads to great creativity. You see that in Ben Franklin, you see it in Albert Einstein, and you see it, of course, in Steve Jobs." The Jobs biography, published in 2011, sold almost 400,000 copies in its first week alone and was among the top-selling books of the year.

Praise

New York Observer
"In truth, Mr. Isaacson's book does not add enormously to the sum of our knowledge. But his clear prose and media savvy may bring in readers who have not ventured into the 18th century before....Mr. Isaacson has done plenty of research....He has also brought back the humor missing from the more academic tomes....[This] ambitious new study signals an important effort to bring Franklin back into focus. A new generation of readers needs to know more about the Founder who most appealingly embodies our great resourcefulness as a people--and more than a few of our weaknesses, too." - Ted Widmer 06/30/2003

New York Times Book Review
"[A] thoroughly researched, crisply written, convincingly argued chronicle that is also studded with little nuggets of fresh information." - Joseph J. Ellis 07/06/2003

Nation
"Transcends the limits of conventional hagiography....Isaacson has written a book whose research and writing would do credit to a professional historian. Isaacson's vivid and readable narrative gives a clear account of Franklin's scientific work, his extraordinary career as a social innovator, of his labors as a diplomat and statesman, and of the vagaries of his love life." - Robin Blackburn 07/14/2003

Product Attributes

Book Format:		Paperback
Number of Pages:		0608
Publisher:		Simon & Schuster

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Benjamin Franklin An American Life (Paperback)

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