I have always been a fan of Benjamin Franklin, ever since my father gave me my first Franklin half dollar back in the 1960's. Anybody who could have their picture on a coin without even being a president must be pretty special! Although I've read his Autobiography a couple of times, it wasn't until I read this comprehensive biography by Walter Isaacson that I began to appreciate the full complexity of this American original.

Everyone has heard the description of his various careers: printer, author, statesman, scientist, and diplomat. As the originator of several American social institutions -- universities, libraries, national post office, hospital, police department, fire department -- he was the architect of the fabric of American society. And as an inventor, he is responsible for the Franklin stove, the lighning rod, and bifocal lenses, among others.

But I really wasn't aware of his many contribution as statesman and diplomat. He was a proponent of unifying the states long before the problems with Britain were irreconcilable. As a Royalist, he spent years in Britain trying to convince them that they were demanding too much of the colonists. Once that failed he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He spent years in Paris as ambassador, trying to secure French support in the case of a war with England, and after he finally returned to America, he played a pivotal role in the writing of the Constitution.

Walter Isaacson has written a compelling description of the Franklin years, however I found the first portion of the book too dependent on Franklin's Autobiography. This is probably due to a lack of other sources for this early material, but having recently re-read the Autobiography, I found it to be a bit dull. However, the last two thirds of the book are brimming with information that Franklin wasn't interested in sharing with us (to be honest, he may have been interested, but he ran out of time). Isaacson does a very good job painting a portrait of this interesting man, showing both his flaws and his strengths. He left me appreciating that Franklin, through his Almanacs, his Autobiography, and his public and political works, may have done more than any other American to establish the character of our young nation -- a character that is still with us today.