PULITZER PRIZE FINALISTBenjamin Franklin, perhapsthepivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this thorough biography of … Americas first Renaissance man (The Washington Post).

“The authoritative Franklin biography for our time. Joseph J. Ellis, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winningFounding Brothers

Wit, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, businessman, inventor, and bon vivant, Benjamin Franklin’s “life is one every American should know well, and it has not been told better than by Mr. Brands” (The Dallas Morning News). From penniless runaway to highly successful printer, from ardently loyal subject of Britain to architect of an alliance with France that ensured Americas independence, Franklin went from obscurity to become one of the worlds most admired figures, whose circle included the likes of Voltaire, Hume, Burke, and Kant.

Drawing on previously unpublished letters and a host of other sources, acclaimed historian H. W. Brands has written a thoroughly engaging biography of the eighteenth-century genius. A much needed reminder of Franklins greatness and humanity,The First Americanis a work of meticulous scholarship that provides a magnificent tour of a legendary historical figure, a vital era in American life, and the countless arenas in which the protean Franklin left his legacy.