The Portable Benjamin Franklin

Statesman, writer, scientist, and entrepreneur, Benjamin Franklin did so many things with such panache that he often seemed to be several different people. This anthology makes it clear that all those Franklins were in fact one protean individual. In addition to the complete Autobiography, the volume includes about one hundred of Franklin's major writings - essays, journalism, letters, political tracts, scientific observations, proposals for the betterment of civic and personal life, literary bagatelles, and private musings. The selections are reprinted in their entirety and organized chronologically within six sections that represent the full range of Franklin's temperament.