A Companion to Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was the oldest and most distinctive of America's founding fathers and he represents a political tradition that has been all but forgotten today - one that prizes pragmatism over moralism, religious tolerance over fundamentalist rigidity, and social mobility over privilege. Written by contributors from across a range of academic disciplines, A Companion to Benjamin Franklin brings together traditional and cutting-edge scholarship to explore the different ideas and approaches to a figure of singular importance in American political, cultural, intellectual, and literary history. Biographical chapters provide an introduction to the four main phases of Franklin's life and the ways in which they have been interpreted, while others examine his diverse range of interests and the related concerns of biographers and scholars who have produced important work about the man and his times. The final section places Franklin in the context of recent work that has situated him within political theory and international relations, literary and cultural studies, and popular culture.