Benjamin Franklin

Professor Gaustad has written another outstanding biography in the Lives and Legacies Series by Oxford University Press. I recommend highly his biographies of Roger Williams and Benjamin Franklin. While geared towards "young adult" readers, anyone interested in American history should read this book. Franklin was the prototypical American whose ideas and actions shaped so much of our republic's early development. It is not a "kids" book. It combines first-rate scholarship in a concise (125 pages) format with clear, non-academic writing. This makes it accessible to readers of all levels and ages. It should be used in high school and under-graduate colleges and universities. While recent commendable biographies of Franklin by H.W. Brands, Edmund Morgan and Walter Issacson abound, this one is the best! I hope that Professor Gaustad can contribute another work to the Lives and Legacies series. We need a new biography of William Penn.