biography of benjamin franklin book

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History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

The best books on benjamin franklin, recommended by d.g. hart.

Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant by D.G. Hart

The Founding Fathers of the United States were a remarkable bunch of people, but Benjamin Franklin might have been the most remarkable of them all. Coming from humble stock, he became a businessman, scientist, diplomat and politician—a giant of the Enlightenment. Historian D.G. Hart sheds some light on his character and background and puts him in his broader social and political context.

Interview by Benedict King

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius: the Boston Years by Arthur Bernon Tourtellot

The Puritans: A Transatlantic History by David D. Hall

The Enlightenment in America by Henry May

William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755 by Alan Tully

1 The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

2 benjamin franklin: the shaping of genius: the boston years by arthur bernon tourtellot, 3 the puritans: a transatlantic history by david d. hall, 4 the enlightenment in america by henry may, 5 william penn’s legacy: politics and social structure in provincial pennsylvania 1726-1755 by alan tully.

W hat story does your book,  Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant,  tell? What hole in Franklin studies was it trying to fill?

There’s so little left uncovered in studies of Franklin and of the Founders more generally. But this is part of a ‘spiritual biography’ series; it’s filling a gap in that series. They’re covering a lot of people who have already been covered elsewhere. The idea of a spiritual, rather than a religious biography, actually may capture Franklin better. I know another historian, Tommy Kidd has done a religious biography of Franklin for Yale. Franklin himself was a kind of believer, but he would fit, I think, contemporary ideas about being ‘spiritual’ rather than ‘religious’.

Part of what I’ve thought was missing in treatments of Franklin was how he fits into Protestantism and the culture that Protestantism produced in the centuries after the Reformation. The book is bridging studies of Franklin and studies of Anglo-American culture, post- Reformation .

Was he a deist? Or was he a complete non-believer?

He was a deist and rented a pew for his wife Deborah at Christ Church in Philadelphia . And he attended some services there. He’s buried there in that church’s burial ground—America has fewer church burial grounds than in Europe. But he was a deist early on. Studies of deism can be a little peculiar because there was no membership required. It seems to be a category imposed on people.

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Franklin, early in his life had a radical phase. He was caught up in philosophical speculation, which people could count as deism. But he was a God-fearer. I really do believe that he was genuine about that, thinking that he was going to meet his rewards after death. So, he believed there was going to be some kind of reckoning. And he invokes Providence a lot, which so many of the founders did, so he’s not unusual in that regard. But I couldn’t say he was an unbeliever, in the way somebody else I’ve worked on, such as H.L. Mencken, the journalist and modernist literary critic, clearly was. Mencken was an agnostic and identified as such. He just could not come to believe in God. Period.

Who else is in this spiritual biography series?

John Stuart Mill and Woodrow Wilson are the two I know about for sure. There will be more in the pipeline. I think Andrew Jackson is going to be in it.

Among the founding fathers, there were some who were openly committed Christians, others who were less so. Were any of them avowed atheists? The reason I ask is because there seems to be a big debate in United States politics at the moment around the Founding Fathers, and about what kind of country they thought they were founding.

Probably Jefferson comes the closest, I think, although this gets into questions of what was acceptable in public as well. My sense is that most of them were church-attending and would generally say the sorts of things you’d expect people to say about the churches. So, I don’t think there were any who were outright antagonistic to religion. The one person who might qualify as an atheist is Tom Paine. But I think even there, Americans read him differently than the English did. The English saw him much more as a radical because he has was anti-monarchy, but that didn’t really bother Americans as much. In what Paine wrote he was still interacting with scripture, and seeming to pay deference to it, although maybe coming up with novel interpretations.

Let’s move on to your Benjamin Franklin books. The first of the books is The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon Wood. Why have you chosen this one?

Well, Gordon Wood is just a great historian. I’ve enjoyed his work for such a long time. I leaned heavily on this book in writing my own, and he does a really good job with the creation of Franklin. ‘Americanization’ is a way of saying that Franklin went from being very much pro-British Empire, which he remained all the way down, even into the 1770s, hoping that independence wouldn’t have to happen. But as things turned out, while he was a diplomat in London, he saw a polarization between the colonies and the English during that time.

“It’s just so unlikely that that Franklin’s life would have turned out the way it did”

The common perception of Franklin by contemporary Americans, if they know history, is that he’s just associated with the founding of the country, and you don’t really see how he developed and the incredible emergence of this person who was close to the bottom of colonial society and who made this life for himself as a businessman, printer and editor, and who then retired at the young age of 42, while still owning the business and receiving income from it. Then he begins to dabble in politics, and eventually worked his way into Pennsylvania politics. He goes overseas to negotiate with the Penn family to try to get a better deal for the colony in North America. And that’s how he also begins to make connections for other kinds of diplomatic endeavors, which occupy much of the last two or three decades of his life.

Excellent. And I think we can pick that theme up again in your next recommendation, which is Arthur Bernon-Tourtellot’s book , Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius . This is about his young life, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

What case does this book make?

He was not a trained historian. He came to this book just as a writer of popular history. And he tells the story only up through Franklin leaving Boston, which is the prelude to what you would think of as the most important parts of Franklin’s life, which is his making it as a business man, his making it in Philadelphia, his success and then political career, and his scientific career.

It short circuits Franklin’s life, but he turns those early years into an amazing story. Tourtellot has a great eye for detail. He went deep into a lot of different source material for it. And so, just the description of Boston street life, the Franklin family home, Franklin’s father’s relationship with his Uncle Ben, who comes to visit and has a falling out with the family, his detail on Franklin’s mother’s family, the kinds of life going on in Boston, it’s all truly vivid. It’s just a great read. It really is.

Was Franklin recognized as an incredibly remarkable intellect from a very early age? Did his parents hothouse him, educationally? Or was he considered unremarkable at 17, when he left Boston, but flourished on his arrival in Philadelphia?

Boston, as least among those residents that were Puritans—and how you classify that as is a difficult question—was a remarkably literate, and at least by some standards, learned society. His father was bookish and had lots of books in the house. At least, that’s what Franklin recalled. His father didn’t have a formal education. There were the means for a formal education. Franklin’s parents, because Benjamin was the tenth child, wanted to make him a tithe to the church and send him into the ministry, as a gift to God, as it were. So he went to Latin school with the hopes of going to Harvard. But they also saw that he probably just didn’t have the religious devotion to do it. And so they pulled him out. It was also a way to save money, as well, although I’m not saying that was the only reason they did it.

“Franklin’s parents wanted to make him a tithe to the church and send him into the ministry… But they also saw that he probably just didn’t have the religious devotion to do it”

Let’s move on to the next of your Benjamin Franklin books, David Hall’s The Puritans: A Transatlantic History . Tell us a bit about this one.

Hall’s story is about Puritanism, from roughly the beginning of efforts to reform the Church of England in the 1570s down to the Glorious Revolution. He does both sides of the Atlantic, which is, really well done. Too often studies of Puritanism isolate the European side from the North American side. He’s spent his career writing about early modern Protestantism, and he’s a great historian. I put this in there because he’s part of a recent recovery of Puritanism, at least by historians in the United States, that links the developments in North America to political developments in 17th-century England, Scotland and beyond.

Oftentimes the history of Puritanism in the US looks at, say, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the New England colonies in isolation from the British Isles. Perry Miller, who was another great historian, at Harvard, almost single handedly rescued Puritanism from the kinds of snipes that H.L. Mencken took at Puritans—Mencken famously defined Puritanism as the haunting fear that someone somewhere may be happy. That was a common perception of Puritanism, until maybe 1940 or so. And then, Miller burst onto the stage at Harvard, recovers Puritanism with a boatload of graduate students under him. They go out and they wind up weaving the Puritan narrative into the understanding of America, which is in the midst of the Cold War. And the way that they tell that narrative helps America keep going with the Cold War.

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It’s actually a very interesting story. An historian recently, called Abram van Engen has a book out called A City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism , that refers to this creation of the Puritan narrative, and weaving it into the national narrative post-World War Two.

But what Hall does is look at it from a completely different perspective, not from a Cold War perspective, but from the 17th century, looking at what was happening in North America and how that was related to the politics and religion of 17th-century England and Scotland. And for that reason, it’s a great read, but it’s also a great background on Puritanism. And if you want to understand Puritanism and Franklin’s relationship to Puritanism, that’s an important book to consult.

Is it possible to identify things in Franklin’s personal culture or intellectual life that are specifically rooted in this Puritan background? Are there obvious things to point to?

A couple of examples. It’s a bit of a stretch to argue that Franklin is indebted to English Puritanism in some way, since he himself disavowed it. And it really left him cold, even though he held on to pieces about God, about the importance of doing good because there’d be a reckoning in the world to come. He held on to those sorts of things. But Puritanism was a very bookish culture and, and Franklin going into publishing and into print as much as he did was part of that Puritan inheritance. Even his interest in science could be part of it. There’s an old sociology of science scholar, Robert Merton, who has elaborated the so-called Puritan thesis about the origins of modern science being rooted in the culture of Puritanism in England. And I try to work that into understanding Franklin.

“Puritanism was a very bookish culture and, and Franklin going into publishing and into print as much as he did was part of that puritan inheritance. Even his interest in Science could be part of it”

Even his ideas about civic organizations and social order in Philadelphia, organizing libraries, hospitals, police, fire departments—you could argue that Franklin learned a lot of this from the civic culture of Puritans in Boston. Maybe he just intuited it by growing up in it, but those are the sorts of connections that I see, even though when it comes down to beliefs, they’re not there.

Let’s move on to your next Benjamin Franklin book, Henry May’s The Enlightenment in America .

Henry May, was a great intellectual historian of post-World War Two America. I have several good friends in academia who were students of Henry May as undergraduates, and I have other scholarly friends who knew him well as a colleague. My own claim to fame with Henry May, is that when I was a student at Harvard Divinity School, I was the sommelier at the Harvard Faculty Club, which wasn’t the greatest of dining establishment—there were still rumors when I was there that they were serving horse, which they may have done during World War Two. But, anyway, May came to campus with a professor with whom I was studying, and they sat at a table. And so I was able to serve him wine.

Henry May was a great historian at University of California, Berkeley. This book was published in 1976. The story he tells has been carried on by many people. He told the story that the Enlightenment is not one thing. It is several things and it happens in different places, and at different times—in England, Scotland, France, Germany, North America. And it has different kinds of traditions, such as the moderate enlightenment of Newton , for instance, or the skeptical enlightenment, of Voltaire , the didactic enlightenment of the Scottish Enlightenment figures of Smith and the like.

May puts Franklin in the skeptical camp. I think he may emphasize that a little more than necessary. Because I think that in the revolutionary camp of the Enlightenment, there’s a utilitarian side and you really see that strain in Franklin. He was constantly thinking about how things worked, whether in the natural world, or the famous fireplace that he invented, or bifocals, or hospitals, or even colleges. He was not just a thinker, he was a tinkerer, his whole life and he tinkered with ideas as well. May is really useful for situating Franklin in that Enlightenment. Even though it’s almost 50 years old, it’s a very useful guide to thinking about the Enlightenment and how it unfolded in the United States.

And what does he say about the Founding Fathers? Did they see the founding of the United States as an Enlightenment project? 

Finally, for the last of your Benjamin Franklin books we have Alan Tully’s William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755 .

Yes. For me, Tully is a fascinating read, because his book puts the Pennsylvania Colony and its political struggles in perspective, and allows readers to situate Franklin in that setting. I leaned on it heavily for a couple of chapters when it came to trying to explain Pennsylvania politics, say from the 1740s, down to the founding of the United States, especially where Franklin was involved.

But it’s of interest before that. You have these different kinds of colonies in America with either royal charters, or proprietary colonies where a family like the Penns would have a charter from the king, but they could run their colony in some ways independently of the government’s apparatus. And that created all sorts of struggles in Pennsylvania, when the governor of Pennsylvania Colony is insisting on certain views, and the legislature wants other things from the proprietors. And a conflict between the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government follows. That, in some ways sets into motion tensions similar to those between say, the monarchy and parliament, or even the British government and the legislature.

“Franklin may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times”

Those political dynamics are very useful to understand. But Tully also explores the different kinds of Protestants in particular—although there were also Jews and Roman Catholics in the colony. Penn set it up so there was great religious freedom, unlike other colonies that were either Anglican or Puritan. And, what wound up happening is that oftentimes the political polarization in Pennsylvania mapped onto different strains of Protestantism, with the Quaker Party being one group but with Presbyterians, reformed Lutherans, and more traditional Protestant groups, going with the Proprietary Party. Franklin was in the mix of that trying to situate himself with those groups.

In the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War), which takes place between 1756 and 1763, which is a major turning point in relations between France and Britain, Britain gained control of a big swathe of North America after victory. The Quakers were ambivalent about that war, because they are pacifists and they were in this difficult situation of asking how they should defend a colony while holding on to Quaker beliefs at the same time?

Franklin is really good at negotiating the Quaker interests with other groups and he may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times. But he was pretty good at reading people and getting things done. So that’s the reason why I think that book is so useful.

What’s his present day reputation in the United States?

He’s out of the news, in large measure. There’s not a lot written about Franklin these days. But during the anti-slavery protests surrounding various monuments last summer, at the University of Pennsylvania, where the main administrative building is called Franklin Hall, they didn’t demand that his statue be taken down.

There’s also a statue on campus of George Whitefield, the evangelist, Anglican priest, famous for the first Great Awakening, who went back on his views of slavery to introduce slavery into Georgia. He used slaves to help with his orphanage in Georgia. The University of Pennsylvania decided during the controversy to take the Whitefield statue down. But they also decided to keep Franklin up, even though Franklin had slaves at one point in his life, and even traveled to London with those slaves. But he was later a president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, toward the end of his life.

I think if you want to think about the American character, the American can-do spirit. Franklin embodies that America. When students in my courses encounter Franklin, they encounter somebody who explains a lot about the way America works. And there’s a way in which Franklin’s writing about Philadelphian and American politics or about family life captures something about the way American society works. And so in that way, he’s evergreen.

May 19, 2021

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

is a native of suburban Philadelphia and teaches history at Hillsdale College.  He trained in U.S. history at Johns Hopkins University and is the author and editor of twenty books about religion, politics, and higher education in America.  He lives with his wife, Ann, and three cats in Hillsdale, Michigan.

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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Second Edition

by Benjamin Franklin

Edited by Leonard W. Labaree, Ralph L. Ketcham and Helen C. Boatfield

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368 Pages , 5.00 x 7.75 in

• 9780300098587
• Published: Thursday, 10 Apr 2003

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Edmund S. Morgan (1916–2013) was Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. He wrote more than a dozen books including Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America , which won the Bancroft Prize, and American Slavery, American Freedom , which won the Francis Parkman Prize and the Albert J. Beveridge Award. He also is the author of the New York Times best-selling biography Benjamin Franklin . Cited as “one of America’s most distinguished historians,” Morgan was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2000; in 2006, he received a special Pulitzer Prize “for a creative and deeply influential body of work as an American historian that spans the last half century.”

“People who have read one or more of the many current books about Benjamin Franklin really ought to direct their attention to the man himself, specifically to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin . . . . It is the first great American book. . . . An extraordinary document. . . . Plainly yet vividly written, its 18th-century prose still accessible to ordinary readers more than two centuries later. . . . It portrays Colonial and Revolutionary America . . . with an immediacy unmatched in almost any other document. . . . Franklin’s wisdom is for the ages, our own as much as his. So read the Autobiography and—among the many editions available—read Yale’s. Its text is the most reliable (the Franklin papers are at Yale) and its supplementary material is uniformly useful.”—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post “The best and most beautiful edition [of the Autobiography ].”—J. H. Plumb, New York Review of Books “Where so many fancy books are long on pictures and short on readable reading matter, this one is superbly the reverse. . . . What counts here is the text: the first thoroughly edited and adequately annotated version of Franklin’s memoirs faithful in every word to Franklin’s holograph. . . . The result is like cleaning away the grime and crackled varnish of generations to discover unsuspected sparkle in an old master.”— Time “This is one of those rarest of historiographical achievements: a publication of the original text of a historical and literary classic in which the bookmaker’s art and the historian’s best technical editorial skill are combined to produce a work that is both a dependable scholar’s source, a reader’s delight, and a thing of beauty.”— American Historical Review

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9 Books About Benjamin Franklin, “The First American”

Read up on the man who defined the American ethos.

• Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Diplomat. Scientist. Writer. Philosopher. Founding Father of the United States. The man who flew a kite and a key in a storm and discovered electricity. Benjamin Franklin’s fascinating and eventful life makes for enthralling reading, especially in our own politically turbulent, rapidly changing times. It’s understandable that readers would seek out material on a figure who served as a force of change in his own times. But where does one start? 

Related: The History of Freemasonry, a Fraternal Organization Fraught with Conspiracy Theories

There is an abundance of biographies available on Franklin and the accomplishments and controversies that made up his 84 years. Below are nine remarkable and highly recommended biographies written by trustworthy historians. With unique styles and approaches to 18th-century American politics and scientific advancements, each author can sign their name to their work as proudly as Franklin signed his to the 1776 Declaration of Independence. 

The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1

By J.A. Leo Lemay

The sheer size of the volumes from Lemay’s series may seem daunting at first, but if you're seeking out a richly detailed and thorough biography, this is the one for you. The three volumes divide Benjamin Franklin’s life into the following time categories: 1706-1730, 1730-1747, and 1748-1757. Each volume specifically focuses on a role Franklin played in his lifetime, with the first being his work as a journalist, the second being his life as a printer and publisher of monumental works, and the third being his triple-act as a solider, scientist, and politician (the job titles he is most famous for). It's up to you to decide which of Franklin’s illustrious careers you would like to commit your attention to. 

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

By Walter Isaacson

This lengthy biography was produced by a professor of history and seasoned biographer of other innovators, including Leonardo da Vinci , Albert Einstein , and Steve Jobs. Isaacson’s approach to Franklin’s life is that of a biographer who appreciates and admires geniuses. 

This biography explores the broader spectrum of Franklin’s scientific and governmental achievements, from his discovery of electricity to his establishment of local lending libraries to his project of redesigning kitchen stoves so they wouldn’t smoke so much. Isaacson presents Franklin as a full enterprising spirit and human being, just as he does with his other subjects. 

Related: You Know the Founding Fathers, Now Meet the Founding Mothers

Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity

By Nick Bunker

This biography is an ideal choice for readers and researchers who are looking for the psychological elements that shaped Franklin into a Founding Father. It was written by a Pulitzer Prize finalist who tackles his subject matter with intensity and insight. 

This biography, as the title suggests, focuses primarily on young Franklin’s struggles to navigate through the brutal worlds of imperialist England and colonial-age America, which was not so much an idealistic promised land as raw material to be molded and reshaped by strong-willed individuals with big ideas. The book ends when Franklin is age 41 and is in the process of discovering electricity.

Benjamin Franklin in London

By George Goodwin

From 1724-1726 Franklin was a printer’s apprentice in London, and from 1757-1775 he called Britain’s capital his home yet again. It was in London during this second stretch where he would defend American interests and socialize with some of the era’s great minds, such as Enlightenment philosopher David Hume and physician and inventor Erasmus Darwin. This biography explores Franklin’s inner tug-of-war and how he teetered between his identity as an Anglophile and his role as an American representative. Goodwin’s work is an interesting journey through Franklin’s divided locations and principles. 

Related: 14 Little-Known Facts About America's Founding Fathers

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

By H.W. Brands

This biography was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, written by a well-respected professor of history. Its wealth of source material includes Franklin’s letters and correspondence, some of which has never been published before. Like Lemay’s work, this book is profound and accurate, leading readers by the hand through Franklin’s journey from obscurity to notoriety. Unlike some of the others included on this list, the book doesn’t focus on one particular aspect of Franklin’s life, but on his status as a Renaissance man of his time, who thrived in science, publishing, travel, the military, and politics alike. 

By Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming presents Franklin as a man of courage and innovation during a time when society was undergoing a dramatic transition into modernity and industrialization. This book particularly finds its grounding in Franklin’s political and scientific breakthroughs, such as his discovery of electricity and his part in America’s road to independence. As an ambassador he was also essential in the process of maintaining shaky relationships with the British Empire and the rest of Europe during these tempestuous times. This book is about a man brave enough to face the wrath of kings and diplomats as well as the wrath of the natural world. 

Related: 9 Fascinating Books About the Founding Fathers of America

A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin and His Son

By Willard Sterne Randall

What is a historical figure’s life without a bit of family drama? In the spirit of American freedom and a break from age-old traditions, Franklin entered into a common-law marriage with a woman named Deborah Read and also conducted love affairs on the side. One of these affairs produced his illegitimate son William Franklin, whose animosity with his father is the center of this account. 

Though Franklin had hoped, and almost expected, that William would follow in his footsteps and fight for American independence, William stayed rigidly loyal to the British crown, leading to imprisonment, exile, and a soured, never-resolved relationship between father and son. This book is a good choice for readers interested in the more scandalous side of Franklin’s personal life. 

Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father

By Thomas S. Kidd

With Franklin’s public and historic image being that of a man of science, his religious faith, or lack thereof, is an aspect of his life that is often overlooked. This account tackles the subject head-on. Relying on Franklin’s letters, essays, and other personal writings, the book explores Franklin’s relationships with devout family members and acquaintances whose influence partially bound him to his strict Puritan upbringing, even as he was embracing Revolutionary ideas and upheavals. 

Throughout his life, Franklin’s faith swayed, and he tended to lean towards skepticism and deism, meaning that he believed it was humans, not God, who influenced and manipulated events on Earth. It was this philosophy that likely allowed him the brashness to fly a kite in a storm. 

Related: 6 Historical Political Cartoons That Capture the Hopes and Fears of the Past

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By Benjamin Franklin

And finally, here is a version of events “straight from the horse’s mouth,” as the English idiom goes. Written during the author-politician’s retirement years, between 1771 and 1790 (the year of his death), this is a first-person retelling of a most extraordinary life. Franklin leads his readers from his sheltered upbringing in Boston to his ardent participation in the American Revolution. Franklin uses his autobiography as a platform for penning his own wisdom and advice for leading a productive and virtuous life, as he abhorred idleness and complacency above anything else. Though the shortest book on the list, it nevertheless has had the longest and largest impact on American history. 

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Benjamin Franklin

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 28, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

One of the leading figures of early American history, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor and diplomat. Born into a Boston family of modest means, Franklin had little formal education. He went on to start a successful printing business in Philadelphia and grew wealthy. Franklin was deeply active in public affairs in his adopted city, where he helped launch a lending library, hospital and college and garnered acclaim for his experiments with electricity, among other projects. During the American Revolution , he served in the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War (1775-83). In 1787, in his final significant act of public service, he was a delegate to the convention that produced the U.S. Constitution .

Benjamin Franklin’s Early Years

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. His father, Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), a native of England, was a candle and soap maker who married twice and had 17 children. Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667-1752) of Nantucket, Massachusetts , Josiah’s second wife. Franklin was the eighth of Abiah and Josiah’s 10 offspring.

Did you know? Benjamin Franklin is the only Founding Father  to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

Franklin’s formal education was limited and ended when he was 10; however, he was an avid reader and taught himself to become a skilled writer. In 1718, at age 12, he was apprenticed to his older brother James, a Boston printer. By age 16, Franklin was contributing essays (under the pseudonym Silence Dogood) to a newspaper published by his brother. At age 17, Franklin ran away from his apprenticeship to Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. In late 1724, he traveled to London, England, and again found employment in the printing business.

Benjamin Franklin: Printer and Publisher

Benjamin Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, and two years later opened a printing shop. The business became highly successful producing a range of materials, including government pamphlets, books and currency. In 1729, Franklin became the owner and publisher of a colonial newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette , which proved popular—and to which he contributed much of the content, often using pseudonyms. Franklin achieved fame and further financial success with “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which he published every year from 1733 to 1758. The almanac became known for its witty sayings, which often had to do with the importance of diligence and frugality, such as “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

In 1730, Franklin began living with Deborah Read (c. 1705-74), the daughter of his former Philadelphia landlady, as his common-law wife. Read’s first husband had abandoned her; however, due to bigamy laws, she and Franklin could not have an official wedding ceremony. Franklin and Read had a son, Francis Folger Franklin (1732-36), who died of smallpox at age 4, and a daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache (1743-1808). Franklin had another son, William Franklin (c. 1730-1813), who was born out of wedlock. William Franklin served as the last colonial governor of New Jersey , from 1763 to 1776, and remained loyal to the British during the American Revolution . He died in exile in England.

Benjamin Franklin and Philadelphia

As Franklin’s printing business prospered, he became increasingly involved in civic affairs. Starting in the 1730s, he helped establish a number of community organizations in Philadelphia, including a lending library (it was founded in 1731, a time when books weren’t widely available in the colonies, and remained the largest U.S. public library until the 1850s), the city’s first fire company , a police patrol and the American Philosophical Society , a group devoted to the sciences and other scholarly pursuits. 

Franklin also organized the Pennsylvania militia, raised funds to build a city hospital and spearheaded a program to pave and light city streets. Additionally, Franklin was instrumental in the creation of the Academy of Philadelphia, a college which opened in 1751 and became known as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

Franklin also was a key figure in the colonial postal system. In 1737, the British appointed him postmaster of Philadelphia, and he went on to become, in 1753, joint postmaster general for all the American colonies. In this role he instituted various measures to improve mail service; however, the British dismissed him from the job in 1774 because he was deemed too sympathetic to colonial interests. In July 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Franklin the first postmaster general of the United States, giving him authority over all post offices from Massachusetts to Georgia . He held this position until November 1776, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law. (The first U.S. postage stamps, issued on July 1, 1847, featured images of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington .)

Benjamin Franklin's Inventions

In 1748, Franklin, then 42 years old, had expanded his printing business throughout the colonies and become successful enough to stop working. Retirement allowed him to concentrate on public service and also pursue more fully his longtime interest in science. In the 1740s, he conducted experiments that contributed to the understanding of electricity, and invented the lightning rod, which protected buildings from fires caused by lightning. In 1752, he conducted his famous kite experiment and demonstrated that lightning is electricity. Franklin also coined a number of electricity-related terms, including battery, charge and conductor.

In addition to electricity, Franklin studied a number of other topics, including ocean currents, meteorology, causes of the common cold and refrigeration. He developed the Franklin stove, which provided more heat while using less fuel than other stoves, and bifocal eyeglasses, which allow for distance and reading use. In the early 1760s, Franklin invented a musical instrument called the glass armonica. Composers such as Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1827) and Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91) wrote music for Franklin’s armonica; however, by the early part of the 19th century, the once-popular instrument had largely fallen out of use.

READ MORE: 11 Surprising Facts About Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution

In 1754, at a meeting of colonial representatives in Albany, New York , Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies under a national congress. Although his Albany Plan was rejected, it helped lay the groundwork for the Articles of Confederation , which became the first constitution of the United States when ratified in 1781.

In 1757, Franklin traveled to London as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, to which he was elected in 1751. Over several years, he worked to settle a tax dispute and other issues involving descendants of William Penn (1644-1718), the owners of the colony of Pennsylvania. After a brief period back in the U.S., Franklin lived primarily in London until 1775. While he was abroad, the British government began, in the mid-1760s, to impose a series of regulatory measures to assert greater control over its American colonies. In 1766, Franklin testified in the British Parliament against the Stamp Act of 1765, which required that all legal documents, newspapers, books, playing cards and other printed materials in the American colonies carry a tax stamp. Although the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, additional regulatory measures followed, leading to ever-increasing anti-British sentiment and eventual armed uprising in the American colonies .

Franklin returned to Philadelphia in May 1775, shortly after the Revolutionary War (1775-83) had begun, and was selected to serve as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, America’s governing body at the time. In 1776, he was part of the five-member committee that helped draft the Declaration of Independence , in which the 13 American colonies declared their freedom from British rule. That same year, Congress sent Franklin to France to enlist that nation’s help with the Revolutionary War. In February 1778, the French signed a military alliance with America and went on to provide soldiers, supplies and money that proved critical to America’s victory in the war.

As minister to France starting in 1778, Franklin helped negotiate and draft the 1783  Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

Benjamin Franklin’s Later Years

In 1785, Franklin left France and returned once again to Philadelphia. In 1787, he was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. (The 81-year-old Franklin was the convention’s oldest delegate.) At the end of the convention, in September 1787, he urged his fellow delegates to support the heavily debated new document. The U.S. Constitution was ratified by the required nine states in June 1788, and George Washington (1732-99) was inaugurated as America’s first president in April 1789.

Franklin died a year later, at age 84, on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. Following a funeral that was attended by an estimated 20,000 people, he was buried in Philadelphia’s Christ Church cemetery. In his will, he left money to Boston and Philadelphia, which was later used to establish a trade school and a science museum and fund scholarships and other community projects.

More than 200 years after his death, Franklin remains one of the most celebrated figures in U.S. history. His image appears on the $100 bill, and towns, schools and businesses across America are named for him.

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20 Best Books on Benjamin Franklin (2022 Review)

September 17, 2020 by James Wilson

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Benjamin Franklin did many notable things. He discovered electricity. He opened the first library. He was a founding father. He invented the bifocals. He has so many acheivements. He did lots of great work. But, his personality and history is often overlooked by the big events of his life. Along with being a founding father, he was a writer and journalist. He was a scientist. And he was a husband and father.

What are the Best Benjamin Franklin Books to read?

These books detail Benjamin Franklin’s life and history. He did a great job of helping discover America and declare its freedom. He was an honorable man with acheivements and flaws. It’s important to see all sides to a story, even the stories of the greatest people in history. The books below will help readers understand Benjamin Franklin, what he did for history, and what he did for the present and future.

Best Books on Benjamin Franklin: Our Top 20 Picks

Here are some of the best Benjamin Franklin books that you can consider to expand your knowledge on the subject:

1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin is another version of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. This autobiography recounts Benjamin Franklin’s life from 1771 to 1790. Franklin was independent, had good intentions, and did lots of important work. In this book, Benjamin Franklin explains his reasoning for every decision he made. He explains the obstacles he had to overcome, and the most notable events in his life. This book was not published until after Benjamin Franklin’s death.

This book is considered an autobiography, but he described it as a memoir. Benjamin Franklin had so many talents. He discusses these talents in his book, and goes more into detail on what went into his accomplishments. This is a great read, particularly for educators that are teaching students about Benjamin Franklin. This would be a great assigned read that is not too difficult to follow.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author)
• Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 1, 2019)
• Pages : 116 pages

2. Franklin’s Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin has a lengthy history full of many achievements. Instead of reading an interpretation of his history, why not hear what he has to say. Franklin’s Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin covers Benjamin Franklin’s history and how he recounts it. It is told in the present. He knows of his accomplishments, but he doesn’t know how far they’ll go.

The book has a long, rigorous introduction. The meat and the bones of the book, which would be Benjamin Franklin’s notes and information, is what ties this book together. He was very intelligent, which can be seen in this book.

This book is a very great autobiography. The differing language between generations can be hard to read, but the book is great overall, and perfect for those who want to know more about Benjamin Franklin from an unbiased source.

• Pages : 268 pages

3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Benjamin Franklin is most well-known for being one of the founding fathers. He contributed a lot of notable work to the world that is often overlooked by his name. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson recounts all of Benjamin Franklin’s history. While this book does a great job of sharing Benjamin Franklin’s trials and tribulations, it doesn’t actually detail his vulnerability.

This book shows more of Benjamin Franklin’s confidence, which makes him unrelatable. He was not born into privilege, so he needed to work his way up. This book was great, but it would be alot better if it discussed the hardships Benjamin Franklin had to endure instead of his founding fathers. This is a pretty good biography, but there is more to Benjamin Franklin than it touches on.

• Authors : Walter Isaacson (Author)
• Publisher : Simon & Schuster; 1st Edition (July 1, 2003)
• Pages : 624 pages

4. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin covers every little detail of Benjamin Franklin’s life. The politics in this book are actually readable and enjoyable. This book is well-organized. It captures all of the good and the bad in Benjamin Franklin’s life. Benjamin Franklin was many things: he was a penniless runaway, a triumphant printer, and was an all around pivotal character in colonial history. He did a lot of great work, and he worked hard to do so.

This book is full of interesting, and has plenty of detail. That being said, it can be a long, dull read at times. It goes on for awhile. This book, at times, has too much detail. It could be condensed so as to not lose the attention of the readers.

• Authors : H. W. Brands (Author)
• Publisher : Anchor; Reprint Edition (May 14, 2010)
• Pages : 786 pages

5. The Way to Wealth

The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin is an incredible introduction to personal finance by a notable man in history. This book is wise, and thoughtful. Even though it was written over 200 years ago, many of Franklin’s tips and advice can be used today. He wants people to achieve success by staying true to themselves. His book helps people get rich in a way that keeps their integrity intact.

This book helps readers with their money, savings, and insight into the world of finance. This book is a quick read. It is simple to get through, and it is not boring either. Benjamin Franklin continues to help people long past his death. He has notable insight to many things, money only being one of them. This book helps readers better manage their money just like Benjamin Franklin did.

• Publisher : Applewood Books (September 1, 1986)
• Pages : 30 pages

6. The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success

Benjamin Franklin has an opinion on everything, and money does not fall short of that. The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success by Benjamin Franklin includes some of Benjamin Franklin’s essays related to money. This book has advice for obtaining success and money. This is a pocket-sized book that has plenty of information that can be read quickly. It has great advice that applies to many situations. Readers can carry this book with them everywhere they go.

The book ends with rules on 13 ways to be a good person. Benjamin Franklin uses this book to focus on character development. He teaches readers how to succeed without using their integrity and heart. This book has amazing advice from one of the oldest and most successful voices of the past. This is a simple read for readers of every level.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), Charles Conrad (Author), Best Success Books (Author)
• Publisher : www.SuccessBooks.net (May 16, 2014)
• Pages : 21 pages

7. Who Was Ben Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was so many things. He was a scientist, a founding father, an inventor, a statesman, and so much more. He was an inspiration to many people, and still is today. Who Was Ben Franklin? By Dennis Brindell Fradin is a great kid’s book detailing the history of Benjamin Franklin. The pictures in this book are cute, fun, and colorful. The drawings excite kids and make them eager to learn more about Benjamin Franklin.

This book is a short easy read. Older kids can read it on their own easily. This book is funny, interesting, and thrilling. This is a great gateway to the history of Benjamin Franklin. This is a perfect for kids who need to do a research paper on a historical figure, especially a figure as notable as Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Dennis Brindell Fradin (Author), Who HQ (Author), John O’Brien (Illustrator)
• Publisher : Penguin Workshop; Illustrated Edition (February 18, 2002)
• Pages : 112 pages

8. Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard: A Novel

Benjamin Franklin had a son: William Franklin. Even though he had a son, they did not have the most-loving relationship. Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard: A Novel by Sally Cabot recalls the history of William Franklin, and how it affected Benjamin Franklin’s life. Benjamin Franklin’s family life was very complicated, and his son’s existence only added to that.

This book discusses William Franklin and how he came to have two loving moms. William Franklin was the son of Benjamin Franklin and his mistress, Anne. However, Benjamin Franklin’s wife, Deborah, raised him as her own.

This book is full of drama, war, and love. This book is historical fiction, so don’t believe everything that is said. But it is based on truth. This book is a page turner that keeps readers engaged and interested in Benjamin Franklin and William Franklin.

• Authors : Sally Cabot (Author)
• Publisher : William Morrow; Reprint Edition (May 7, 2013)
• Pages : 373 pages

9. Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School

Benjamin Franklin was many things. He first and foremost, a founding father. He had great success in his life, but he was also very funny. Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School by Benjamin Franklin is a collection of more of Benjamin Franklin’s more humorous essays. This book has many topics: sacred cows, attacks on marriage, hoaxes, and the english parliament.

This book is more entertaining than it is historical. It gives readers an insight into the wit of Benjamin Franklin, and how well-rounded he was. These essays are humorous, but they also criticize politics and more-pressing issues in a light-hearted way. Benjamin Franklin’s humor is dry. He uses many puns. Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, a statesman, and much more, but he was also the King of Satire. This book proves just that.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), Carl Japikse (Editor)
• Publisher : Frog Books; Revised ed. Edition (May 1, 2003)
• Pages : 128 pages

10. Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues

Benjamin Franklin truly has a virtuous history. Being virtuous, means one has virtues. Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues by Benjamin Franklin includes 13 of his most important virtues. This is a great book for parents to read to their children. It is simple and straight-forward. The language is easy to read, and is less about Benjamin Franklin’s history, and more about his values.

This book is motivational and inspiring. This book gives insight into what drove Benjamin Franklin to succeed. This book gives readers the opportunity to get to know the real Benjamin Franklin. He was humorous, kind, and hard-working. This book really delves deep into who he was, without focusing on all he did. Benjamin Franklin was an amazing man. This book really shows the virtues that made him who he was.

• Publisher : Applewood Books (September 27, 2016)
• Pages : 32 pages

11. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood chronicilizes Benjamin Franklin’s life and how it revolutionized America. This book tells a more complex narrative of Benjamin Franklin. His life was more ambiguous than people may assume.

This book is a little simple, but it’s also convoluted. Benjamin Franklin had allegiance to the United States as well as England. His history as an American is noteworthy and amazing, but it is not flawless.

This book gives a look into the life of Benjamin Franklin, and how he was not the perfect human being. It explains how his mistakes made him the person he was. He had great achievements in life, and he leaves a notable history of achievements after death. This is an unbiased book that truly explores who Benjamin Franklin was, and what he did for America.

• Authors : Gordon S. Wood (Author)
• Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint Edition (May 31, 2005)
• Pages : 354 pages

12. Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an inventor. He discovered many things, but the most well-known being electricity. Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta is lists many of Benjamin Franklin’s other inventions. Franklin set up many inventions and even had a hand in setting up libraries, fire departments, and hospitals. This book recounts some of the inventions Benjamin Franklin made, how he did it, and the impact it had on the world.

This book has beautiful illustrations that are fun, and light-hearted. This is definitely a perfect book for teaching children about Benjamin Franklin and the work he did.  The book is also great for adults. It’s an easy read, and focuses on some of the great work Benjamin Franklin did that is not often mentioned in other history books.

• Authors : Gene Barretta (Author, Illustrator)
• Publisher : Square Fish; First Edition (December 23, 2008)
• Pages : 40 pages

13. Benjamin Franklin Wit and Wisdom

Benjamin Franklin Wit and Wisdom by Benjamin Franklin is a pocketbook that can be taken anywhere. It is small, compact, and condensed. It has a lot of information on a few pages. The book has accompanying illustrations that match the history, and make it more interesting. This book has incredible quotes and sayings from Benjamin Franklin.

This book makes for a great conversation starter. This book has fun facts on Benjamin Franklin, but nothing too meaty. It doesn’t go too into depth because it’s not big enough to do so. This is a great introductory book for people who are looking to know more about Benjamin Franklin, but haven’t learned about him before. This is a great book for students to use as a refresher on Benjamin Franklin and his incredible life.

• Publisher : Peter Pauper Press; Min Edition (April 1, 1998)
• Pages : 64 pages

14. The Autobiography and Other Writings

The Autobiography and Other Writings by Benjamin Franklin is Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and so much more. This compilation includes passages from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, some of the essays he wrote, and a deeper look into Benjamin Franklin’s history. The book is fascinating, but it can be a bit tedious.

Benjamin Franklin was a civilian who worked hard to make life better for the citizens of the world, and more specifically America. The autobiography passages are interesting, but what really makes this book stand out are the essays.

This book introduces Benjamin Franklin from different perspectives. It shows his personality, his humor, and his overwhelming success. This book is a great read for students, teachers, and anyone else who wants and needs to know about Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Benjamin Franklin (Author), L. Jesse Lemisch (Editor), Walter Isaacson (Introduction)
• Publisher : Signet; Reprint Edition (August 5, 2014)
• Pages : 352 pages

15. The Completed Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin

Many have complained that Benjamin Franklin did not complete his autobiography. With The Completed Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin by Mark Skousen, we don’t have to. This book celebrates the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth. This book recounts the work Franklin did after 1957, so everything he did until his death in 1790. He did lots of notable work as a scientist, printer, writer, lobbyist, inventor, and more. He was self-made. He started as penniless nobody, and worked his way up to becoming a founding father of the United States of America. He made history–history that this book covers.

At times, this book can feel lengthy and redundant. Overall, though, it has incredible information that is often left out of other books. Skousen did his research. This book covers every aspect of Benjamin Franklin’s life.

• Authors : Mark Skousen (Author), Benjamin Franklin (Author)
• Publisher : Regnery History (November 21, 2005)
• Pages : 256 pages

16. Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity

Benjamin Franklin’s early life is when he had to work his hardest. He had no money, no name for himself, and a long way to go. Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity by Nick Bunker focuses on Benjamin Franklin’s youth. Everything in this book happened before Benjamin Franklin was 41.

This book focuses on his lesser known accomplishments. This book recalls the history of Benjamin Franklin and the small accomplishments that led him to make the big ones. This good has a good in depth history of Benjamin Franklin, but at times it can be judgemental.

The author inserts his opinion often, and sometimes in places where it doesn’t need to be. But this book does really capture the young years of Benjamin Franklin, and how they shaped him for bigger, more profound change.

• Authors : Nick Bunker (Author)
• Publisher : Knopf; 1st Edition (September 18, 2018)
• Pages : 464 pages

17. Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan is a short, yet interesting biography of Benjamin Franklin. The book is concise and easy to read. Morgan does an incredible job of viewing Benjamin Franklin’s life from all perspectives. This is an important introduction to the life of Benjamin Franklin. It is not too long, so it does not become redundant halfway through like many other historical books do.

This book has more intel on how Benjamin differed from the other founding fathers: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington. This book recaps all of Benjamin Franklin’s life, from beginning to end. He worked really hard for his success. This book shows his determination and resilience as a man and as a founding father. This is a good book for people with all levels of knowledge on Benjamin Franklin.

• Authors : Edmund S. Morgan (Author)
• Publisher : Yale University Press; Illustrated Edition (September 24, 2003)

18. Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father

There is so much information and history on Benjamin Franklin’s life and accomplishments, but there is little known about his religion. Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father by Thomas S. Kidd takes a look into Benjamin Franklin’s history.

This book discusses the accomplishments Benjamin Franklin had as a scientist, printer, and a diplomat. But most of all, this book delves into his religious beliefs that Benjamin Franklin had. He abandoned his Christianity that his family so deeply believed in. He published many works on many religious topics. Like the rest of Benjamin Franklin’s work, he did his research. He learned about many religions, and what drove others to believe in them.

This book debunks the myth that Benjamin Franklin was not a religious person. Benjamin Franklin had a lot more depth in perspective than many thought he did, and this book explains that.

• Authors : Thomas S. Kidd (Author)
• Publisher : Yale University Press; Illustrated Edition (May 23, 2017)
• Pages : 288 pages

19. A Benjamin Franklin Reader

A Benjamin Franklin Reader by Walter Issaacson is full of selected pieces from Benjamin Franklin’s history. Benjamin Franklin was an amazing writer. He published works in newspapers, books, and more. He has no shortage of excellent pieces on a variety of topics. He was witty, funny, and smart.

This book includes those pieces, as well as an introduction and preface to each of them. The book provides context and background to each story. This book helps readers grasp an idea of who Benjamin Franklin was behind all of his prominent titles. He was kind and thoughtful. He was intelligent. He was witty. He was a kind man, whose personality was often overshadowed by his achievements. This book is long, but it isn’t dull. It is interesting, and keeps readers captivated and enlightened by Benjamin Franklin’s history.

• Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Annotated – Illustrated Edition (June 2, 2005)
• Pages : 576 pages

20. Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist

Benjamin Franklin wasn’t only a founding father, he was an actual father. Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist by Sheila L. Skemp is a wonderful book about the relationship between father and son. So many history books focus on Benjamin Franklin’s fiscal accomplishments and not his familial conflict. The two were divided due to political conflicts. They were divided. Their love turned to hate. Skemp does a good job of explaining how the two reached a terrible divide.

The book, at some points, can be dull and boring. However, this book brings a fresh perspective on an aspect of Benjamin Franklin’s life that lacked the success and honor some many other parts did. The book has speeches and letters, and lots of amazing history.

• Authors : Sheila L. Skemp (Author)
• Publisher : Bedford/St. Martin’s; 1st Edition (March 15, 1994)
• Pages : 205 pages

Choosing the Best Benjamin Franklin Books

These books have lots of thoughtful information on Benjamin Franklin. They capture his life and history, as well as his personality and wit. He did a lot of great things, but he also had his faults. Choosing the right book to study Benjamin Franklin and his life can be difficult, but it is necessary based on what readers need to know. These are 20 of the best books of Benjamin Franklin, but there are plenty more that be can found.

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The 10 Best Books on Benjamin Franklin

Essential books on benjamin franklin.

There are countless books on Benjamin Franklin, and it comes with good reason, he was a successful printer, founding father of the United States of America, scientist celebrated for his discoveries and theories in the realm of electricity, and leading intellectual of his time.

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of history’s most consequential figures to the heights of societal contribution, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best books on Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders.

He explores the wit behind  Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

The First American by H. W. Brands

From penniless runaway to highly successful printer, from ardently loyal subject of Britain to architect of an alliance with France that ensured America’s independence, Franklin went from obscurity to become one of the world’s 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 Franklin’s greatness and humanity,  The First American is 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.

Benjamin Franklin in London by George Goodwin

For more than one-fifth of his life, Benjamin Franklin lived in London. He dined with prime ministers, members of parliament, even kings, as well as with Britain’s most esteemed intellectuals – including David Hume, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus Darwin – and with more notorious individuals, such as Francis Dashwood and James Boswell. Having spent eighteen formative months in England as a young man, Franklin returned in 1757 as a colonial representative during the Seven Years’ War, and left abruptly just prior to the outbreak of America’s War of Independence, barely escaping his impending arrest.

In this necessary addition to the ever-growing index of books on Benjamin Franklin, George Goodwin gives a colorful account of the founding father’s British years. The author offers a rich and revealing portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in U.S. history, effectively disputing the commonly held perception of Franklin as an outsider in British politics. It is an enthralling study of an American patriot who was a fiercely loyal British citizen for most of his life – until forces he had sought and failed to control finally made him a reluctant revolutionary at the age of sixty-nine.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

At 17 years old, Benjamin Franklin saw no path forward but to start his life over. After sneaking on board a ship destined for New York, in just three days, he found himself nearly 300 miles from home, without the least recommendation to, or knowledge of any person in the place, and with very little money in his pocket.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin  is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his  Memoirs . Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin’s death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

A leading historian of the American Revolution offers an incisive portrait of the complex, often contradictory figure of Benjamin Franklin, a man who was at once the quintessential American and a cosmolitan lover of Europe, a one-time loyalist turned revolutionary, and an ambassador whose French diplomacy, crucial to the American cause, became a source of suspicion at home.

Benjamin Franklin’s Science by I. Bernard Cohen

Until now Benjamin Franklin has usually been incorrectly regarded as a practical inventor and tinkerer rather than a scientific thinker. He was elected to membership in the elite Royal Society because his experiments and original theory of electricity had made a science of that new subject. His popular fame came from his two lightning experiments – the sentry-box experiment and the later and more famous experiment of the kite – which confirmed his theoretical speculations about the identity of electricity and provided a basis for the practical invention of the lightning rod. Franklin advanced the eighteenth-century understanding of all phenomena of electricity and provided a model for experimental science in general.

I. Bernard Cohen, an eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin’s scientific work, examines his activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterful accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin’s science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe as well as the United States.

Cohen emphasizes that Franklin’s political and diplomatic career cannot be understood apart from his scientific activities, which established his reputation and brought him into contact with leaders of British and European society.

A Little Revenge by Willard Sterne Randall

A Little Revenge is the story of the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and his illegitimate son, William. A brilliant young man who first served Benjamin as military advisor and legal counsel, William eventually rose to be Royal Governor of New Jersey, only to become his father’s implacable enemy.

When the American Revolution broke out and William refused to follow his father and remained loyal to the British Crown, an enmity developed that was frightening in its ferocity. Then, William was captured by the rebels and his father made sure he was confined to a notorious prison, he even intervened in Washington’s attempt to free William through an exchange of prisoners.

Once William did secure his freedom, he became deeply involved in the illegal execution of rebel prisoners. William was exiled to Britain, and he and Benjamin lived out their lives without ever forgiving the other. In fact, after the Revolution, they spoke only once to each other.

Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father by Thomas S. Kidd

Benjamin Franklin published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century American layperson. Born to Boston Puritans, by his teenage years he had abandoned the exclusive Christian faith of his family and embraced deism. But Franklin, as a man of faith, was far more complex than the “thorough deist” who emerges in his autobiography.

As Thomas Kidd reveals, deist writers influenced Franklin’s beliefs, to be sure, but devout Christians in his life – including George Whitefield, the era’s greatest evangelical preacher; his parents; and his beloved sister Jane – kept him tethered to the Calvinist creed of his Puritan upbringing. Based on rigorous research into Franklin’s voluminous correspondence, essays, and almanacs, this fresh assessment of a well-known figure unpacks the contradictions and conundrums faith presented in Franklin’s life.

Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, and Early Writings ; Edited by J. A. Leo Lemay

Statesman, scientist, philosopher, printer, and civic leader, Benjamin Franklin was also the most powerful writer of his time. From his first appearance in print, in the guise of the eccentric, opinionated, voluble “Silence Dogood” (1722), to his last published article, a searing satire against slavery (1790), he covered every aspect of “the question of America” with radiant clarity, wit, and penetration.

This Library of America collection begins with items written by Franklin during his early years in Boston and London (1722–1726), including the complete “Silence Dogood” essay series. The volume also includes the famous “Busy-Body” essays (1728–1729); many of the news articles and essays he penned after he purchased the failing Pennsylvania Gazette (which eventually became the most widely read newspaper in the colonies); and various political satires, pamphlets, and personal correspondence written while he lived in Philadelphia from 1726 to 1757. The book concludes with material he published while a diplomat in London from 1757 to 1775 (including letters to the press, satires, and pamphlets).

Controversial in his own time, and the subject of vigorous debate ever since – to Matthew Arnold he exemplified “victorious good sense,” while to D. H. Lawrence he was “the first dummy American” – Franklin emerges in this collection as a figure of extraordinary complexity for readers to discover, consider, and appreciate anew.

Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet by Michael Meyer

Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.

In this revelatory treat among books on Benjamin Franklin and his business dealings, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested – but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

Poor Richard’s Almanack

Poor Richard’s Almanack  (sometimes  Almanac ) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of “Poor Richard” or “Richard Saunders” for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold exceptionally well for a pamphlet published in the Thirteen Colonies. This is a faithful reproduction of the original Peter Pauper Press edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack, circa 1950, the current version contains the same colorful woodcuts and 18th-century design of the original.

If you enjoyed this guide to essential books on Benjamin Franklin, check out our list of The 10 Best Books on President George Washington !

How Ben Franklin Invented the Library as We Know It

Books were rare and expensive in colonial America, but the founding father had an idea

Elizabeth Webster

Founding father  Benjamin Franklin knew better than most the benefits of self-education. In 1727, he established the Philadelphia-based discussion group known as the Junto, which sought “mutual improvement” through intellectual dialogue. Yet while Franklin enjoyed the Junto’s spirited—and secret—debates on matters moral and scientific, he became convinced that the group needed an authoritative library to referee basic facts. Books were rare and expensive in colonial America, but Franklin had an idea.

He conceived of a library with a subscription fee, the Library Company of Philadelphia , which he founded in 1731. The Library Company allowed members—at first, largely male artisans of modest means—to purchase shares in the library at a low cost. Members also built a sort of intellectual wealth with their shares, as they could be passed down from generation to generation. Since Franklin wished to ensure access to useful books, he favored volumes in English that could be more widely understood. The Library Company’s catalog would respond to readers’ fervent interests—and those readers kept multiplying: After early successes, the Library Company soon began allowing non-shareholders to borrow books, too, requiring only a small fee as collateral. This innovative structure quickly inspired imitators, and by 1800, there were more than 40 lending libraries throughout the United States. During the same era in Britain, philanthropists donated books to libraries for community enrichment, but only among the stacks; these libraries did not generally circulate books. In some instances, books were chained to bookshelves to prevent theft.

By 1771, as the Revolution neared, Franklin reflected in his autobiography on the lending library’s crucial role in fostering democracy: “These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans” and “made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries.” From the Revolutionary War until 1800, the Library Company served as the first de facto Library of Congress while the federal government was in Philadelphia.

Still supported by shareholders, the Library Company today stands as an independent research library, free and open to the public. Some of its earliest holdings, such as Franklin’s original copy of Logic, or, the Art of Thinking by Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole, are preserved in its vast, non-circulating collection. Though the Library Company currently specializes in American history before 1900, its mission remains the same. “[The founders] knew that democracies were inherently fragile and that the only way you could sustain a democracy was by having an educated populace,” says Michael J. Barsanti, who served as director of the Library Company until this past February. “That’s one of our first, most important roles as an institution, and it’s one that we still have today. … We are trying to remind people, using the Junto as our inspiration, that … we learn best when we learn together.”

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Elizabeth Webster is a Pennsylvania-based writer, attorney and author of the novel Summer Triangle .

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How 18 oddballs and misfits changed the world of book-making

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Book-reviewing is an occupation that tends quite effectively to deromanticise books as sacred objects . They arrive, often unbidden, and are brusquely sorted into wills and won’ts. Won’ts are passed on to friends, charity shops, and just occasionally (conspiracy theories, astrology, business psychology) the bin. Wills often languish unread on my desk for months, mutely indicting my lack of industry. The few that make it to the reviewing stage are subjected to a brutal procedure of spine-breaking, page folding, underlining, and annotating.

Paradoxically, the best are treated worst. The dull and the bad tend to leave my pencil idle in my hand except for the odd peevish comment; the really excellent end up concertinaed and scrawled-on to the point of destruction. Adam Smyth’s The Book-Makers belongs firmly in the latter camp. It lies, as I type, wedged open beneath my right forearm, a shadow of its former self, enjoyed beyond repair.

Many book lovers would disapprove; Smyth might consider this not just my right as a reader but a kind of duty too. Books, as he notes in the opening pages of The Book-Makers, “come alive” when we can see through them to the people who have handled them in time, people “with messy loves, and ideals, and talents, and non-infinite resources, with other things to do”. The sorts of “heckling commentaries” left by grumpy readers like me are the most obvious kind of trace but the expert eye can see not just the readers but the makers too.

Whether it be the literal case of the nameless 17th-century print-shop worker who smudged a page of Margaret Cavendish ’s Poems and Fancies in 1664, or the self-effacing perfectionism of 18th-century innovator John Baskerville, the fingerprints of those who made books are all over them. The skill of a bibliographer like Smyth is to be able to read those ghostly prints and add a whole second story to the words on the page – one that, in certain cases, is rather more compelling than the contents of the book itself.

Emphasising the human aspect in all its chaotic truth, The Book-Makers is far from your standard Gutenberg-to-Google history of the book. Subtitled “A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives”, this is adamantly “not a techno-determinist […] chronology of inventions” and improvements, but a story “full of the contingencies and quirks, the successes and failures, the routes forward and paths not taken” in book-making. Rather than Gutenberg or Caxton, Smyth’s story begins with Wynkyn de Worde, the German immigrant to England whose claim to fame is not invention but dynamism: the entrepreneurial insight to make the economically precarious, high-overheads business of printing a viable proposition in early 16th-century London. Instead of ending with Kindles, hypertext, and futurology, Smyth closes with the mid-20th-century art movement Fluxus and photocopying. What really tickles him are the obscure figures who might fade from history altogether were it not for the attentions of people like him.

The result is an idiosyncratic cast that, alongside more famous figures like Benjamin Franklin and Nancy Cunard, includes a 17th-century bookbinder at the Bodleian; obsessive 19th-century scrapbookers; and small press perfectionists like Thomas Cobden-Sanderson, a man so dedicated to his craft that he threw his precious type into the Thames in 1922 rather than have it fall into the wrong hands.

The trick that Smyth pulls off is to trace these sideroads as a way of mapping the main roads too. Despite steering away from a Whiggish history of progress, there is plenty of space here for landmark moments and major developments; and there is, too, deep technical detail of the kind that has driven many a graduate student away from bibliography forever.

It works here, though, because Smyth brings to it the same combination of precision and practical delight that characterises most of his subjects. Running his own hand-press, and editing an experimental journal in addition to his day-job as an Oxford don in English, he is almost uniquely well-qualified to convey what his 18 makers felt under their fingertips, and why it mattered to them so much. It is, in the truest sense, an enthusiast’s book; one that deserves to find enthusiasts of its own.

The Book-Makers is published by Bodley Head at £25. To order your copy, call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

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The Story of Benjamin Franklin: An Inspiring Biography for Young Readers (The Story of: Inspiring Biographies for Young Readers) Paperback – December 15, 2020

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• A fun quiz —Test your knowledge of Benjamin's life with a short quiz that covers the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of his story.
• Word definitions —Explore helpful definitions of some of the more advanced words and ideas inside the book.
• Lasting legacy —Learn about how Benjamin Franklin changed the world for future generations, including you.
• Part of series The Story Of: A Biography Series for New Readers
• Print length 66 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 2 - 3
• Lexile measure 820L
• Dimensions 5.83 x 0.18 x 8.27 inches
• Publisher Rockridge Press
• Publication date December 15, 2020
• ISBN-10 1647398215
• ISBN-13 978-1647398217
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rockridge Press (December 15, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 66 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1647398215
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1647398217
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 6 - 9 years, from customers
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 820L
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 2 - 3
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.3 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.83 x 0.18 x 8.27 inches
• #14 in Children's Political Biographies (Books)
• #53 in Children's Historical Biographies (Books)

About the author

Shannon anderson.

Shannon Anderson is an award-winning author, teacher, and national speaker. She served as the regional advisor for the Indiana Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and was named one of the Top 10 Teachers who inspired the Today Show in 2019. You can visit her website at www.shannonisteaching.com to find out more!

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