The Compleated Autobiography

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What to expect

Benjamin Franklin’s celebrated autobiography, published after his death, is one of the greatest autobiographies of all time—but it was incomplete. Franklin ended his life’s story in 1757, when he was only fifty-one. He lived another thirty-three full, eventful, and dramatic years, some of the most dramatic years in American history—years in which Franklin was America’s advocate in London, represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, and was America’s wartime ambassador to France. During these years Franklin also helped write our nation’s Constitution and planned an American Empire that would displace the British Empire.

Franklin is one of the most fascinating of the Founding Fathers—a polymath like Jefferson, a practical statesman like Washington, and a cynic and wit beyond parallel. Now, at last, in The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, we finally get the rest of the story, in Franklin’s own words.

Faithfully compiled and edited from Franklin’s papers by Dr. Mark Skousen—Franklin’s descendant, acting as his devoted secretary—this is the closest we will ever get to Franklin sitting down in his study in Philadelphia, dipping quill into ink, and finishing his autobiography.

Critics Review

  • “The Compleated Autobiography retains [the] sophistication, humor, and sense of irony that made the original autobiography a classic—and is destined to create a renewed appreciation of Benjamin Franklin as an original thinker and primary figure in the founding of the United States of America.”

    National Review

  • “Ferrone portrays Franklin’s intelligence and wit with an understated style that brings out a personality that continues to captivate and intrigue. Ferrone clearly enjoys ‘being’ Franklin, and listeners will be similarly engaged by this book…the next best thing to having an autobiography completed by Franklin himself.”

    AudioFile

  • “Ferrone is well suited to bring an elder statesman like Franklin to life. His deep, raspy delivery conjures up a man in the final years of a full and eventful life; and the first-person narrative makes the history up-close and personal.” 

    Kliatt

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