This book would be fine as a first book on Franklin, because the author starts from not knowing much about him, and touches meaningfully on every fundamental facet of Franklin that I can think of. He goes on to cover his topic very well. Most Franklin fans are not particularly interested in what happened to …
From my Goodreads review of Nick Bunker’s wonderful book: Without question, my Book of the Year, so far. One of the best books on Franklin, this takes many episodes one reads right past in his Autobiography (and standard biographies) and goes deeper.The definition of “young” is generous: Franklin is forty years old before this author …
I’m cross-posting my review in GoodReads here of Phillip Goodrich‘s 2019 book, Somersett – Or Why and How Benjamin Franklin Orchestrated The American Revolution. It’s a darn good story, with a lot of lively historical matters presented, but unreliable while asking us to believe all of it. The author spins an engaging tale of a …
The Library Company of Philadelphia is in a two-year project to develop the Library’s Graphic Arts Department. The project is called Imperfect History: Curating the Graphic Arts Collection at Benjamin Franklin’s Public Library. I found this American version of the Ages of Man interesting: Benjamin Franklin Bache’s one-penny specie (one ninetieth of a dollar) from …
Note: I see Franklin’s comment that the United States was “A Republic – if you can keep it” almost daily, in one place or another. Everything about Masha Gessen’s book is in line with Dr. Franklin’s admonition, so I’m posting my GoodReads review here. – MCM Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen The title comes from …
The Family Archives of the Hopkinson family came to auction in June 2020. One item is a book given by Dr. Franklin to Francis Hopkinson, with this commentary from the auction catalog: Thomas Hopkinson (1709 – 1751), father of Francis Hopkinson (1737 – 1791) , worked with Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) on several of …
I’m looking forward to Edward J. Larson’s book, Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership, which was released on February 11, 2020. I found my copy on the shelf in a wonderful bookstore (Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, West Virginia) a few days ago. George Washington knew how to say goodbye, as seen in the profound …
I listened to an audio version of Ed Asner and Ed. Weinberger’s 2017 book, The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs. The audio version was read by Mr. Asner himself. It is related to multiple books written to clarify that the Framers of the Constitution were elite, self-serving …
Three sets of the Printing Week Library of Benjamin Franklin Keepsakes have appeared in auctions recently. This is a sweet set of small books on Franklin, “Privately Printed in New York.” I also see some of these volumes listed on Amazon. I have all 29 of these volumes in my library. Oak Knoll Press publishes …
This article from Dubai credits Dr. Franklin with The best of all medicines are resting and fasting. Best of Ramadan wishes to all, but I don’t recognize that as a Franklin line: the only fasting I recall from Franklin was in connection with vegetarianism – that he has since occasionally abstained from eating meat – …
