Jim's Reviews > The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

I'm making my way through the history of the American Revolution by reading one book about every founding father. So far I've read Chernow's books on Hamilton and Washington, and this one by HW Brands.

Each book has shown me the same exact stories and events but told through different eyes. I'm getting layers on top of layers, and it's been a lot of fun.

With Hamilton you get an inside look at the creation of the federal government. With Washington you see all the action from the ground level. But seeing everything from only their eyes makes you miss why everything got started up in the first place. Through Franklin's life and writings and feuds you can see America's disaffection with England start to grow. And not just grow, but morph - from colonists who truly saw themselves as English, to Americans who saw themselves as the creators of something entirely new.

That's the most interesting part of this book. I never realized that independence wasn't really even considered by anybody (at least by anybody whose opinion mattered at the time) until much later in the feud. And when the Declaration was finally written, nobody thought it would become a founding document that we are still feeling the shockwaves of today.

Franklin is the perfect person to tell this story through, as he was truly a man of both sides of the Atlantic. He was born and raised in the colonies, had family there, and all of his business interests were there. But he spent most of his adult life in Europe, and felt most at home there. His strongest friendships and relationships were there.

Lots of fascinating stuff here. The story of how Poor Richard and his Almanac came to be is great. The story of Franklin before the Privy Counsel, answering for the release of the Hutchinson letters is probably *the* moment that revolution became inevitable. This book was my first education on what the peace process between both sides was like at the conclusion of the war. Also, this is the first time I've had a real understanding of the Stamp Act and "taxation without representation."