The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands

Very informative but a bit on the dull side

The First American, published in 2000, is a biography of Benjamin Franklin written by H. W. Brands, a professor of history at the University of Texas who has published about 40 books, many of them, like this one, written for a general reading audience. The First American was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history. Having previously read Franklin’s incomplete Autobiography, I was looking for a more detailed account of this Founding Father’s life, one accessible to a nonhistorian. I was satisfied with the education I received from this book, but it wasn’t as engaging of a read as some of the other Founding Father biographies I’ve read from among recent bestsellers.

Brands has clearly done his research. It seems unlikely he left any sizable stones unturned. This is a very comprehensive and informative account of Franklin’s life filled with much detail. I just found it rather boring. Of course, Franklin did not lead a boring life. The problem, therefore, is that Brands chose to focus on aspects of Franklin’s life that didn’t really interest me so much personally. I work in the printing and publishing industries, so I was happy to read about Franklin’s career in those fields. Brands, however, is so admiring of Franklin’s writing that he wants to reproduce every clever turn of phrase, allegorical anecdote, and bon mot that Franklin ever put to paper. In particular, Brands seems a little obsessed with Poor Richard’s Almanac, to which he devotes much ink. The result often reads more like a book of quotations than a biography. Brands states that, “The primary source for any life of Benjamin Franklin is Franklin himself,” and Brands has certainly diligently mined his subject’s published writing and correspondence. What the book could have used more of is perspectives on Franklin from his contemporaries.

Real estate deals and legal proceedings are also favorite subjects of Brands that are discussed at length, with every dollar or pound amount meticulously enumerated. During his lifetime, Franklin was the world’s most famous American largely due to his scientific achievements. Although Brands does occasionally touch on Franklin’s career as a scientist (or natural philosopher, as they used to be called), I really wish there had been more on that aspect of his life rather than the constant praising of Franklin’s literary endeavours and witty correspondence.

Another problem with the book is that Franklin often seems like a supporting character in his own biography. Brands supplies so much historical context that Franklin is absent from the book for too many pages at a time. Lengthy asides are devoted to William Pitt and George III, for example, and much more than I ever wanted to know about British Parliament. Obviously, Franklin played a major role in the founding of the United States of America. He did so, however, mostly in London and Paris, so the reader gets more on diplomatic history in Europe than on the Revolutionary War in America. When Brands does cover the Revolution, it often feels like an unnecessarily lengthy aside. Why do we need a blow-by-blow account of the hardships at Valley Forge or the Battle of Yorktown, for example, when Franklin was on the other side of the Atlantic?

Even having said all that, I have to admit I did get a thorough education on Franklin and some insight into his personality. I just never felt compelled to move on to the next chapter. Unlike, say, Ron Chernow’s book on George Washington, reading The First American felt more like a chore than a labor of love. Given the fascinating life that Franklin led, and the impact he had on American and world history, that really shouldn’t have been a problem.

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