The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

Dates Covered: 1700 - 1800
ISBN: 0385495404
HH Rating:

Our Take

From his room in Paris, where Benjamin Franklin was perhaps the most popular citizen of the city, the famous American wrote to a friend about the current female object of his affections: "the most effectual way to get rid of a certain temptation is, as often as it returns, to comply and satisfy with it." With a good sense of humor, narrative and historical context, H.W. Brands' biography of Franklin is truly a joy to read. Understanding Franklin's historic role as a reluctant American is singularly valuable in understanding the nascent American citizenry as a whole -- they were not all fire breathing radicals like Samuel Adams. In discussing the transformation of Franklin from English citizen to American revolutionary, this tale is excellently written and entirely worthy of your attention.

But on Franklin himself, Brands is a bit timid. Despite including an entire chapter on Franklin's smutty comments, Brands maintains the fairly awkward position that old Benjamin may never have cheated on his wife -- or if he did we can never prove it. Franklin's persistent nepotism is laughed off in a few sentences on the assumptions that those he favored did a good job anyway, and his brutal ambition and political gamesmanship (often centered around land speculation) are explained away in what amounts to a "boys will be boys" and "everyone was doing it". As for the wife that Franklin ignored for more than a quarter-century? She was probably not of world-class calibre anyways. Brands has come up short of the mark on a real life of Franklin, but his excellent writing and sense of the larger historical perspective make this nevertheless a consistently entertaining and educational summer read.

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