The Best Books About Benjamin Franklin

“What are the best books about Benjamin Franklin?” We looked at 90 of the top Franklin book and biographies, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 6 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Benjamin Franklin” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 75+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

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Top 6 Books About Benjamin Franklin

6 .) A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain by Benjamin Franklin

Lists It Appears On:

• Ranker
• Questia

“The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses.”

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5 .) Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Lists It Appears On:

• Jack Miller Center
• Quora

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.

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4 .) Benjamin Franklin’s The Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living

Lists It Appears On:

• Ranker
• Owlcation

Benjamin Franklin’s The Art of Virtue consists of a collection of Franklin’s writings organized around his timeless philosophy on such topics as: goal setting and personal achievement, obtaining wealth and preserving health, human relations and family living, religion and morality, aging and dying, and much, much more.

Full of profound insights, delightful humor, quotable quotes, and plenty of common sense; The Art of Virtue provides wonderful reading for both young and old alike.

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3 .) Franklin: Writings

Lists It Appears On:

• Ranker
• Owlcation

Depicting Franklin as a controversial figure in his own time, this volume includes political, economic, and social pieces, scientific articles, opinions on education and religion, propaganda exercises drawn from “Silence Dogwood,” writings from the “Pennsylvania Gazette,” and “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” and letters

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2 .) Now and Ben by Gene Barretta

Lists It Appears On:

• NY Times
• Best Childrens Books

What would you do if you lived in a community without a library, hospital, post office, or fire department? If you were Benjamin Franklin, you’d set up these organizations yourself. Franklin also designed the lightning rod, suggested the idea of daylight savings time, and invented bifocals-all inspired by his common sense and intelligence. In this informative book, Gene Barretta brings Benjamin Franklin’s genius to life, deepening our appreciation for one of the most influential figures in American history.

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1 .) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Lists It Appears On:

• Questia
• Patheos
• Ranker
• Owlcation
• Jack Miller Center
• Quora

“Written initially to guide his son, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life, now a classic of world literature that is sure to inspire and delight readers everywhere.

Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.”

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The 75+ Additional Best Benjamin Franklin Biographies and Autobiographies

8 Best Learn More About Benjamin Franklin Book Sources/Lists