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  • Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

  • By: Walter Isaacson
  • Narrated by: Nelson Runger
  • Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (365 ratings)
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

By: Walter Isaacson
Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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Summary

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings.

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 21st century.

©2003 Walter Isaacson (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"The most readable full-length Franklin biography available." ( The Washington Post Book World)
"Energetic, entertaining, and worldly." ( The New Yorker)
"In its common sense, clarity and accessibility, it is a fitting reflection of Franklin's sly pragmatism.... This may be the book that most powerfully drives a new pendulum swing of the Franklin reputation." ( The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

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An inspiring story of a polymath

I knew that Franklin was important in the formulation of the American Constitution and that he played a part in the understanding of electricity, but had not realized how impressive were his other scientific investigations nor how influential he was in international negotiations over independence from Britain. His life from humble beginnings to world fame is an inspiring story of self-education and hard work coupled with an admirable tolerance to all religious creeds and a playful sense of humour. The book is an engaging listen as his far from perfect personal life and extraordinary public one are interwoven with the domestic concerns and important moments in history.
The reader has just the right amount of folksy charm to narrate this fascinating biography.

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13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended

This was recommended by a friend who read the book, and I was not disappointed by the audio version. I knew next to nothing about Franklin and little about the American process of independence and I found this biography really interesting about both the man and his time. It was a compelling listen and fascinating. Now I'd like to find a biography of his wife, who must have been an extraordinary woman in her own right! Highly recommended.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A must read!

A fantastic account of an extraordinary life - learnings and insights galore. Biographies such as this one should be compulsory reading in school. Highly recommended.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Long story

Interesting and informative, insightful and educational although very very long. It's like a 90 minute yoga class, you know it good for you but you cannot wait for it to finish

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Narrators heavy breathing was distracting.

Great book, fantastic book, but the narrators heavy breathing was so annoying. I’ve never heard this on any audio book prior to this.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A perfect biography, perfectly read.

My life was almost completely on hold as I was instantly pulled into the beautifully read and fascinating life of the man who could truly be called “the first American”.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Highly Recommend Read

This was my first interaction with a book about Benjamin Franklin that I found captured the great man's life and presented it in such a way that captures even the most casual readers interest in American history and of scientific research and his quick with made it even more enjoyable.

I would and have recommended this book to numerous people who don't know where to start in reading about him. Even though his own biography is quite the read I find this book quite engaging and evenly spaced.


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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding Book about an Outstanding Character

Most know about the caricature Ben Franklin but this well-researched biography goes much, much deeper; sometimes portraying Franklin in less than glowing light. The performance by Nelson Runger is fantastic; well cadenced and good character voices. Even if you are not 'into' history this is worth one of your Audible credits. Onto John Adams!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating and beautifully written biography of a remarkable man

Exceptional depth of research underpinning a rich narrative of an extraordinary life. It gives great insight into life in America before independence, and the political landscape in Britain and France that led to it as well as the development of the US Constitution.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Mr Isaacson worships another cult hero

the author spares his reader nothing.every detail of Franklin's life is recounted . on and on he drones. Mr Isaacson gets detail, but dies not get that not all deatails of of equal importance. I want my money back but know that will never happen

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