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21%OFFGeorge Goodwin - Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America´s Founding Father - 9781780227351 - V9781780227351
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Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America´s Founding Father

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Description for Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America´s Founding Father Paperback. A great man on an even greater stage: Benjamin Franklin arrives in London at the very moment it becomes the epicentre of the greatest power in the world. Num Pages: 384 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 3JF; BGH; HBJK; HBLL. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 131 x 199 x 26. Weight in Grams: 312.
'Sensitive, moving and finely textured' Guardian 'Fantastic' Dan Snow For the great majority of his long life, Benjamin Franklin was a loyal British royalist. In 1757, having made his fortune in Philadelphia and established his fame as a renowned experimental scientist, he crossed the Atlantic to live as a gentleman in the heaving metropolis of London. With just a brief interlude, a house in Craven Street was to be his home until 1775. From there he mixed with both the brilliant and the powerful, whether in London coffee house clubs, at the Royal Society, or on his summer travels around the British Isles and continental Europe. He counted David Hume, Matthew Boulton, Joseph Priestley, Edmund Burke and Erasmus Darwin among his friends, and as an American colonial representative he had access to successive Prime Ministers and even the King. The early 1760s saw Britain's elevation to global superpower status with victory in the Seven Years War and the succession of the young, active George III. These two events brought a sharp new edge to political competition in London and redefined the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Though Franklin long sought to prevent the break with Great Britain, his own actions would finally help cause that very event. On the eve of the American War of Independence, Franklin fled arrest and escaped by sea. He would never return to London. With his unique focus on the fullness of Benjamin Franklin's life in London, George Goodwin has created an enthralling portrait of the man, the city and the age.

Product Details

Publisher
Orion Publishing Co
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2017
Condition
New
Weight
312g
Number of Pages
384
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781780227351
SKU
V9781780227351
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 5 to 9 working days
Ref
99-10

About George Goodwin
George Goodwin is a history graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Foundation exhibition. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and of the Royal Society of Arts. He lives in Kew. https://twitter.com/GeorgeGoodwin1 http://georgegoodwin.com/

Reviews for Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America´s Founding Father
Goodwin's enjoyable biography...
Tim Stanley
HISTORY TODAY
Benjamin Franklin in London is out now everybody. You must get a copy, it is fantastic.
Dan Snow
HISTORY HIT PODCAST
Elegantly written ... an enjoyable introduction to Franklin's time in the imperial metropolis. Replete with anecdote
John Brewer
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
A sensitive, finely textured and moving account
THE OLDIE
[Goodwin's] narrative moves gracefully from heated confrontations with cabinet ministers to intimate aspects of Franklin's home life.
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
The respected British historian and biographer George Goodwin provides us with a thoroughly researched and accessibly written chronicle of that important time of Franklin's transformation from place-seeking provincial lobbyist to risk-taking revolutionary sparkplug . . .Mr. Goodwin's story is the stuff of suspenseful history.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
interesting, lively account of Franklin's 'British life' ... Goodwin presents a diverting portrait of Franklin's place in British Enlightenment culture, but his real forte is political history. Goodwin's detailed narrative of Franklin's diplomatic failures offers a fascinating perspective on this descent from imperial triumph to imperial catastrophe.
Jeffrey Collins
WALL STREET JOURNAL
wonderful ... to be reminded of a time when America produced great men who revered science, were sceptical towards religion, eagerly studied philosophy and argued with both wit and wisdom
Gerard DeGroot
THE TIMES
There are three Benjamin Franklins, the American, the British and the French. The first and the last are famous, the second forgotten ... The British Franklin, the subject of this fascinating and detailed biography, may well be the real Franklin ... George Goodwin's vividly detailed account presents Franklin as a scientific, sociable Londoner. It was Britain's loss he could not remain one.
Dominic Green
LITERARY REVIEW

Goodreads reviews for Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America´s Founding Father


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