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BOOK REVIEW A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff Henry Holt and Company - April 2005
Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty
It is always a pleasure to be able to give the highest marks for a book that can bring reading pleasure to all readers. Stacy Schiff's A Great Improvisation is just such a book. American history buffs and those interested in history in general will enjoy this book immensely. I can recommend it without any hesitation. Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize winner for one of her previous books, exhibits an outstanding writing style combined with a flair for the interesting details (often unreported) that make for a great historical read. Benjamin Franklin, without a doubt, is one of the great figures in American history. Also he was one of the most provocative and, yet, one of the least known of the American Founders. Oh, I know most educated Americans have learned something about this dynamic genius in high school and college classes in American history, but, however, what most don't know about the "complex" Franklin and the intimacies of both his personal and political life could fill volumes. Schiff has managed to glean the really interesting details and present them in such a way that any discerning reader can enjoy and profit from. For seven years way back in the 1960s (a period that is ancient history to most young people today!), I taught American history to eighth graders in a public school. I always included some mention of and discussion of Benjamin Franklin and his part in the formation of the American republic. The experiments in electricity, the famous kite and key episode, the lightening rod, his publishing adventures and experience as a printer, and, of course, "Poor Richard's Almanac," were all part of the common knowledge that I passed on to my students. More's the pity, however, that I did not have the benefit of Stacy Schiff's research and her book to help my students really grasp the "essential" Franklin and his "real" contributions to the American revolution and the unformed youthful government which was in the process of development. A number of facts emerge from a reading of this book that are important to an understanding of our early history. Considering the context of the times, Benjamin Franklin was the one person who could carry out the mission of obtaining help from the French monarchy in setting up the American republic. He had great personal renown as far as the French were concerned and he was accepted by the French as a great world scholar and genius. Furthermore, he managed to manipulate the relationship between the French aristocrats and the representatives of the young American government with a dignity and diplomacy that probably no other of the Founders could have done, although he had no formal training in the handling of foreign affairs. Not all went well during Franklin's endeavor to secure the backing of the French government for America's cause. He was deeply resented by some of the early American leaders and he had to contend with British spies (not to mention a son who was a loyalist and ran off to England), double agents working both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the war effort, and was accused at various points of complicity against the interests of the young American republic and of downright fraud. Nevertheless, he remained on the "mark," so to speak, and helped to bring to fruition one of the greatest accomplishments in all of world history. Some of the book may strike the reader as an early American soap opera since there is much told about Franklin's idiosyncrasies and personal relationships while he lived in France during this time. For me, the gossipy details about life in Paris and at Passy (where Franklin lived for much of his time in France) helped to set the environment within which Franklin lived and moved and accomplished the great things he did. His personal relationships with his noble French lady-friends, and with his grandchildren Temple and Benny who accompanied him to France, are all an important part of the story and add an important dimension to getting a handle on the "real" Benjamin Franklin, a unique personality whose character is extremely complex and very broad. I have to compliment Stacy Schiff on including a number of useful tools in her fine work on Benjamin Franklin. I am very sensitive about resources provided by nonfiction authors in their books intended for nonprofessional readers. Right at the beginning the author gives the reader a "cast of characters," that is, the main personalities the reader will encounter as he or she is reading. This is a great help in placing important personages in proper context at the first meeting. I wish more authors would do that. At the end of her work, Schiff offers a chronology -- a timeline -- which helps the reader to place important events in order and determine the significance of the relationships between and among them. Another important element which I wish more writers of history would employ. Then she provides more than three dozen pages of notes and references, a valuable tool for those who want to followup on specific topics. A selected bibliography is also included along with the standard index of subjects. All in all, a history buff's paradise. A Great Improvisation is a book to be read carefully and thoughtfully, and, above all, savored for its insights into the life of one of America's greatest octogenarians, a true patriot, a renaissance-man of the first-order, a genius (but a common man), a personality larger than life, one whose achievements must rank amongst those of the most celebrated in all of human history. Schiff's work is a remarkable literary achievement and I highly recommend it to all readers. A
Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the
Birth of America, |
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Enrich your life with a book about politics and current events... Enrich your political & social life with a politics or news magazine... |
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