In his time Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was the most famous American in the world. Even those personally unacquainted with the man knew him as the author of" Poor Richard's Almanack," as a pioneer in the study of electricity and a major figure in the American Enlightenment, as the creator of such life-changing innovations as the lightning rod and America's first circulating library, and as a leader of the American Revolution. His friends also knew him as a brilliant conversationalist, a great wit, an intellectual filled ...
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In his time Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was the most famous American in the world. Even those personally unacquainted with the man knew him as the author of" Poor Richard's Almanack," as a pioneer in the study of electricity and a major figure in the American Enlightenment, as the creator of such life-changing innovations as the lightning rod and America's first circulating library, and as a leader of the American Revolution. His friends also knew him as a brilliant conversationalist, a great wit, an intellectual filled with curiosity, and most of all a master anecdotist whose vast store of knowledge complemented his conversational skills. In "Franklin in His Own Time," by reprinting the original documents in which those anecdotes occur, Kevin Hayes and Isabelle Bour restore those oft-told stories to their cultural contexts to create a comprehensive narrative of his life and work.
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