Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson / Apr 17, 2021
Benjamin Franklin An American Life Benjamin Franklin is the Founding Father who winks at us An ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder from leather aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings he seems made of flesh rat

Benjamin Franklin is the Founding Father who winks at us An ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings, he seems made of flesh rather than of marble In bestselling author Walter Isaacson s vivid and witty full scale biography, we discover why Franklin seems to turn to us from history s stage with eyesBenjamin Franklin is the Founding Father who winks at us An ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings, he seems made of flesh rather than of marble In bestselling author Walter Isaacson s vivid and witty full scale biography, we discover why Franklin seems to turn to us from history s stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new fangled spectacles By bringing Franklin to life, Isaacson shows how he helped to define both his own time and ours He was, during his 84 year life, America s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical though not most profound political thinkers He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity, and he invented a rod to tame it He sought practical ways to make stoves less smoky and commonwealths less corrupt He organized neighborhood constabularies and international alliances, local lending libraries and national legislatures He combined two types of lenses to create bifocals and two concepts of representation to foster the nation s federal compromise He was the only man who shaped all the founding documents of America the Albany Plan of Union, the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the peace treaty with England, and the Constitution And he helped invent America s unique style of homespun humor, democratic values, and philosophical pragmatism But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself America s first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity Through it all, he trusted the hearts and minds of his fellow leather aprons than he did those of any inbred elite He saw middle class values as a source of social strength, not as something to be derided His guiding principle was a dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin s amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father He chronicles Franklin s tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty first century.
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[PDF] Download ✓ Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | by ↠ Walter Isaacson
374 Walter Isaacson
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Title: [PDF] Download ✓ Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | by ↠ Walter Isaacson
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Published :2020-08-26T00:04:15+00:00
Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine He is the author of Steve Jobs Einstein His Life and Universe Benjamin Franklin An American Life and Kissinger A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men Six Friends and the World They Made He lives in Washington, DC.