Few men have more claims to greatness than Benjamin Franklin. He was in
his long lifetime, writer, editor and publisher, scientist and inventor,
propagandist for the cause of the American colonies, statesman,
diplomat. He was a wit and a humorist, a loyal friend and a good family
man. From his birth in Boston as the son of a poor candlemaker to his
election by Congress as America’s first ambassador to France and his
subsequent return to the United States, the author traces the
fascinating development of an impetuous and saucy youth who became a
beloved man both on his native soil and throughout the world.