Description
Book SynopsisWritten by contributors from across a range of academic disciplines, this Companion brings together traditional and cutting-edge scholarship to explore a figure of singular importance in American political, cultural, intellectual, and literary history.
Trade Review“Readers will also appreciate the text’s comprehensive bibliography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduates, researchers/faculty.” (Choice, 1 April 2012)
Table of ContentsList of Figures x
About the Contributors xi
Introduction 1
David Waldstreicher
Part I Biography 5
1 Franklin’s Boston Years, 1706–1723 7
Nian-Sheng Huang
2 The Philadelphia Years, 1723–1757 25
George W. Boudreau
3 The Making of a Patriot, 1757–1775 46
Sheila L. Skemp
4 Franklin Furioso, 1775–1790 65
Jonathan R. Dull
Part II Franklin and Eighteenth-Century America 81
5 Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Society 83
Konstantin Dierks
6 Benjamin Franklin and Pennsylvania Politics 104
Alan Tully
7 Benjamin Franklin and Religion 129
John Fea
8 Benjamin Franklin and the Coming of the American Revolution 146
Benjamin L. Carp
9 Benjamin Franklin and Native Americans 164
Timothy J. Shannon
10 The Complexion of My Country: Benjamin Franklin and the Problem of Racial Diversity 183
Nicholas Guyatt
11 Benjamin Franklin, Capitalism, and Slavery 211
David Waldstreicher
12 Benjamin Franklin and Women 237
Susan E. Klepp
Part III Franklin the Writer and Thinker 253
13 “The Manners and Situation of a Rising People”: Reading Franklin’s Autobiography 255
Ormond Seavey
14 Poor Richard’s Almanac 275
William Pencak
15 Benjamin Franklin and Journalism 290
David Paul Nord
16 Benjamin Franklin, the Science of Flow, and the Legacy of the Enlightenment 308
Laura Rigal
17 Benjamin Franklin, Associations, and Civil Society 335
Albrecht Koschnik
18 Empire and Nation 359
Eliga H. Gould
19 Franklin’s Pictorial Representations of British America 373
Lester C. Olson
Part IV Franklin and the Categories of Inquiry 391
20 American Literature and American Studies 393
Edward Cahill
21 Benjamin Franklin’s Material Cultures 412
Megan E. Walsh
22 Benjamin Franklin and Political Theory 430
Jerry Weinberger
23 Benjamin Franklin and International Relations 463
Leonard J. Sadosky
24 Benjamin Franklin in Memory and Popular Culture 479
Andrew M. Schocket
Bibliography 499
Index 536
