{"product_id":"the-first-american-the-life-and-times-of-benjamin-franklin","title":"The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the first comprehensive biography of Benjamin Franklin in over sixty years  acclaimed historian H. W. Brands brings vividly to life one of the most delightful  bawdy  brilliant  original  and important figures in American history.  A groundbreaking scientist  leading businessman  philosopher  bestselling author  inventor  diplomat  politician  and wit  Benjamin Franklin was perhaps the most beloved and celebrated American of his age  or indeed of any age. Now  in a beautifully written and meticulously researched account of Franklins life and times  his clever repartee  generous spirit  and earthy wisdom are brought compellingly to the page.  His circle of friends and acquaintances extended around the globe  from Cotton Mather to Voltaire  from Edmund Burke to King George III  from Sir Isaac Newton to Immanuel Kant. Franklin was gifted with a restless curiosity  and his scientific experiments with electric currents and the weather made him the leading pioneer in the new field of electricity on both sides of the Atlantic; among his many inventions were the lightning rod  the Franklin stove  and the harmonica  a musical instrument that became the rage of Europe.  From his humble beginnings in Boston as a printers apprentice  he became  within two decades  the leading printer and one of the most important businessmen in the Colonies. A longtime Philadelphia civic leader  he created Philadelphias first fire department  wrote the bestseller Poor Richards Almanac  served as Postmaster General for the Colonies  and in the process  completely modernized the mail service. A bon vivant and ladies man throughout his life  he matched wits with Parliament and the Crown during the decade leading up to the Stamp Act; and as the official agent to Parliament  representing several of the Colonies  he helped push the Colonies into open rebellion.  Tracing Franklins gradual transformation from reluctant revolutionary to charismatic leader in the fight for independence  Brands convincingly argues that on the issue of revolution  as Franklin went  so went America. During the Revolutionary War  Franklin was charged by Congress with wooing the King of France to the American cause  and it was the diplomatic alliances he forged and funds he raised in France that allowed the Continental Army to continue to fight on the battlefield. In his final years  as president of the Constitutional Convention  it was Franklin who held together the antagonistic factions and persuaded its members to sign the Constitution.  Drawing on previously unpublished letters to and from Franklin  as well as the recollections and anecdotes of Franklins contemporaries  H. W. Brands has created a rich and compelling portrait of the eighteenth-century genius who was in every respect Americas first Renaissance man  and arguably the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America. A fascinating and richly textured biography of the man who was perhaps the greatest of our Founding Fathers  The First American is history on a grand scale  as well as a major contribution to understanding Franklin and the world he helped to shape.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44983746592821,"sku":"ByrdShop_0385493282","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780385493284.jpg?v=1770808906","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-first-american-the-life-and-times-of-benjamin-franklin","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}