The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

The third edition of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, with Related Documents continues to encourage students to think about the work's lasting impact on American society and culture. Louis P. Masur's introduction is designed to make Franklin accessible and inviting to students. An expanded Related Documents section provides a sample of Franklin's voluminous writings. Two new documents reveal Franklin at his curious, inventive best, offering readers a glimpse of Franklin outside of the Autobiography. A new visual source pairing invites students to interpret Franklin's changing image over time, through the works of two different artists. A chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliographic essay, and an index enrich students' understanding of Franklin, eighteenth-century America, and the rags-to-riches ideal that has played, and continues to play, such a significant role in American history.

Benjamin Franklin, statesman, philosopher, and man of letters, was born in Boston in 1706 of Protestant parents. He entered Boston Grammar School when he was eight and later attended George Brown Ell's school. When he was twelve his father apprenticed him to his half-brother James as a printer. James was later the publisher of the New England Courant, where Franklin's first articles, The Dogood Papers, were published before he was seventeen. He went to Philadelphia in 1723 and pursued his trade of printer. He was befriended by William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, who offered to help the young man get started in business. Franklin left for England, where he hoped to arrange for the purchase of printing equipment. Arriving in London in 1724, he was soon deserted by Keith, and again turned to printing for a livelihood. His privately printed Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725) introduced him to leading Deists and other intellectuals in London. A year later, he returned to Philadelphia, and by 1730 he had been appointed public printer for Pennsylvania. In 1731 he established the first circulation library in the United States; in 1743-44, The American Philosophical Society. In 1748 he retired from the trade of printer but continued to advise and back his partner and to draw profit from the business. Poor Richard's Almanack was his most spectacular success as a publisher, having gone through numerous editions and been translated in many languages. During the next thirty-five years he devoted himself largely to politics and diplomacy, but still wrote and engaged in scientific ventures. He resigned as Minister to France in 1785, returned to America, and was elected President of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Still concerned with the rights of the individual, he published papers encouraging the abolition of slavery. He died in Philadelphia in 1790.

Larzer Ziff is a research professor of English at Johns Hopkins University who has written extensively on American literary culture.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9781420922387
ISBN 10	1420922386
Titel	The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Autor	Benjamin Franklin
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	Digireads.com
Erscheinungsjahr	2005-01-01
Seitenanzahl	108
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar