Just finished two books that I recommend to anyone interested in American History. The first, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson, is an excellent study of a complex man who many regard as the first modern American.
Franklin was a successful businessman who, by the time he was 42, had enough money to devote his life to the things he liked to do, without concern for money. He was a great believer that people, voluntarily cooperating in groups, can accomplish much good for society. For example, he started the American Philosophical Society, founded the country’s first volunteer fire department, municipal police force, and even a private militia during the French and Indian War, to defend Philadelphia during a time when the Quaker dominated assembly would provide no funds for the defense of the colony. The Philadelphia Associators, as they were called, played a key role in the revolution in 1776 and 1777 as well.
Franklin became one of the great applied scientists of the day as well. We all know about his flying the kite in the thunderstorm, but the practical benefit of that experiment was his invention of the lightning rod, which saved thousands of lives throughout the US and Europe. He was the first person to describe positive and negative charges of electricity, and first used the term “battery” to describe a device that could store electricity.
Franklin was also an incredibly successful diplomat, both in England before the Revolution, as the agent of Pennsylvania and later other colonies, and in France during and immediately following the Revolution. He was the only person to have signed all three of the most important documents of that era: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris. He was a master communicator and manipulator of the media, and was probably two centuries ahead of his time in that department. Franklin also seemed to have maintained an unhealthy obsession with teenage girls well into his old age, and treated his wife with indifference while he pursued love interests in three countries. His son, William, became estranged from him and died an unhappy man, after being exiled to England for siding with the British during the Revolution. When Franklin died, he put significant funds into trusts that were to be administered by the Cities of Philadelphia and Boston to promote scientific advancement. The final grants of money from his endowment were awarded to inner city kids for their science projects in 1990.
Washington’s Crossing, by David Fischer, is a magnificent account of one of the most dramatic times in the history of this country. If you have even a vague understanding the events leading up to Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776, the subsequent battles of Trenton and Princeton, and their critical role in the survival of this country, you should read this book. It will dispel many notions that have somehow made it into our popular mythology. Chief among these misconceptions are that the Hessians were all hung over from a night of Christmas celebrations when they were attacked – they weren’t; or that the battles were really minor skirmishes in the grand picture of the war. The winter campaign was a major military conflict and completely turned the war around from an almost certain defeat for the Americans to a decided advantage for the Americans, in many respects. It is one of the best page turners I’ve read in months. Washington emerges as the great leader of men and brilliant strategist that most people have lost sight of after two hundred years of his secular-patriotic sainthood.
Not sure what I’m going to read next. A friend lent me a novel so I think I am going to dive into that, but it is almost a thousand pages long so look for a review of that in, say, November.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
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