Benjamin Franklin

An American Life

By: Walter Isaacson

Narrated by: Boyd Gaines

In best selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours.

The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was 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. 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.

©2003 Walter Isaacson (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Benjamin Franklin catalogs the extraordinary range of its subject's accomplishments, which remain unrivaled in their variety and utility." (The New York Times)
"Isaacson has crafted a wonderfully written biography, and his treatment of Franklin's youth and rise to prominence is insightful and imaginative" (The Washington Post)
"The abridgment is seamless, the text runs the gamut...from brilliant to ordinary."(AudioFile)
"Blessed with one of the most polished and easy-to-absorb voices in the audio business, reader Boyd Gaines does an outstanding job with Walter Isaacson's excellent biography of perhaps the most appealing of the Founding Fathers..." (USA Today)

A great listen, but nothing new here

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, and the narrator was a pleasure to listen to, but I was disappointed that there was nothing here that I hadn't read before. Even so, I'll probably listen to it again in hopes of finding a tantalizing tidbit or fresh perspective that I missed the first time through.

Try another biography

I was looking for a book that would give a more in depth account of his life. This book scratched the surface on some parts but totally glossed over portions that may have been significant to his life. No mention at all about being a Freemason. I can't trust an author that leaves out basic information like that in a biography.

good summary

Wanted more detail, listened to this immediately after "Grant" and the comparison made this seem like a very basic summary.

Good - but not over whelming

I enjoyed the reading and the material. The book really focuses (as the title suggests) on Franklin as the American, and how he shaped that definition. The book is pro-Franklin but still manages to discuss his faults/shortcomings. Looking forward to reading about Adams and the other "Founding Fathers". Franklin is directly responsible for much of the American identity -7

Good listen. Very pro Ben Franklin

I found this book an insightful addition to my understanding of revolutionary America. The author is very much a Fraklin-phile.

A Renaissance Man

I was surprised at all of the different things that Ben Franklin did with his life. One of the original made in America stories.

Greatly enjoyed and well done

well narrated and meaningful account of a truly remarkable man who had a great deal to do with the founding of America and its future.

should be required reading or listening

This was amazing. The story is second to none and the narrator made me feel like I was there.

great

excellent works. well written. well read. and produced very well. although filled with a complex life a based on many letters... it flows and weaves the data into a beautiful story about Benjamin Franklin

Inspiring! Suggest reading autobiography first.

He may be the single most imporant person of modern history. He was truely a leader by example.

Marxism>Lennonism>Communism there should be Franklinism - the Art of Diplomacy - rational thinking for the common good of Man

He tried to immulate Socates and Jesus - yet apparently he was not religiously religious

It is my ambition to try to immulate the virtures of Ben and the free spirit of John Lennon