The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene) - Softcover

Franklin, Benjamin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300098588 ISBN 13: 9780300098587

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The authoritative edition of Franklin's autobiography, now with a new foreword by the eminent Franklin scholar Edmund S. Morgan

A classic of eighteenth-century American history and literature, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography has had an influence perhaps unequaled by any other book by an American writer. Written ostensibly as a letter to his son William, Franklin's Autobiography offers his reflections on philosophy and religion, politics, war, education, material success, and the status of women.

Prepared by the editors of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, this edition is drawn with scrupulous care from the original manuscript in Franklin's handwriting now in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. The introduction by Leonard W. Labaree places the autobiography in literary and historical contexts. In a new foreword, Edmund S. Morgan writes about Franklin's dual allegiance as an American and a subject of an English king—and his emergence as a leader of the American Revolution. This edition also includes biographical notes, a chronology of Franklin's life, and an updated bibliography.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Also available by Edmund S. Morgan: Benjamin Franklin

From the Back Cover:

Blessed with enormous talents and the energy and ambition to go with them, Franklin was a statesman, author, inventor, printer, and scientist. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later was involved in negotiating the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War. He also invented bifocals, a stove that is still manufactured, a water-harmonica, and the lightning rod.
Franklin's extraordinary range of interests and accomplishments are brilliantly recorded in his Autobiography, considered one of the classics of the genre. Covering his life up to his prewar stay in London as representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, this charming self-portrait recalls Franklin's boyhood, his determination to achieve high moral standards, his work as a printer, experiments with electricity, political career, experiences during the French and Indian War, and more. Related in an honest, open, unaffected style, this highly readable account offers a wonderfully intimate glimpse of the Founding Father sometimes called "the wisest American."

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0300098588
• ISBN 13: 9780300098587
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Labaree Leonard W., Ketcham Ralph L., Boatfield Helen C.