Wood, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin.

WOOD, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. Penguin. 299p. illus. notes. index. c2004. 0-14-303528-2. $16.00. SA

Prize-winning author Gordon Wood (The Radicalism of the American Revolution; The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787) gives us a fresh view of one of America's founding fathers, whose tercentennial will be celebrated in 2006. The author intends to "recover the historic Franklin" and to "place Franklin's incredible life in its eighteenth-century context."

A wealthy self-made man, Franklin retired from active business in 1748 at the age of 42. He then threw himself into scientific experiments, politics and public service. "By the early 1760s Franklin had become a thoroughgoing imperialist and royalist." He was sent to England as an emissary to get Pennsylvania made a royal protectorate. Charles II had granted William Penn a proprietary charter and the Penn family ran the state like a fiefdom. Franklin fell in love with London and hated the thought of returning to America. He stayed five years, trying to get the Stamp Act repealed and explaining the attitudes of Americans to the English, though he English found him too American and the Americans found him too English. Eventually, war broke out and Franklin was sent to France, where he spent eight years as a diplomat, trying to win support for the rebellious Americans. He was happy there, lionized as a scientist, writer, diplomat, philosopher, and wit. He finally returned to Philadelphia in 1785, unsure of his welcome. Only a few weeks after his arrival, he became the head of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Franklin's attitude toward his family, slavery, capitalism, and democracy are also explored in this estimable volume. It is entertaining, readable, carefully researched, and perceptive. Janet Julian, English Teacher, Grafton, MA