A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Stacy Schiff

Paper Book, 2005

Status

Available

Publication

Henry Holt and Co. (2005), Edition: First Edition, 512 pages

Description

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Schiff tells how Benjamin Franklin--seventy years old, without any diplomatic training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French--convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, he outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues; engineered the Franco-American alliance of 1778; and helped to negotiate the peace of 1783. From these pages emerge a particularly human and yet fiercely determined Founding Father, as well as a profound sense of how fragile, improvisational, and international was our country's bid for independence.… (more)

Original publication date

2005-03-10

Language

ISBN

0805066330 / 9780805066333

Local notes

Given by Br. Steve Sparrow

Rating

½ (65 ratings; 3.7)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jcbrunner
What can I say? Stacy Schiff's sparkling prose is a joy. This book covers Benjamin Franklin's time in France, or in her own words:"The outline of his unfinished autobiography ends: 'To France. Treaty, etc.' This is the story of those four words, with emphasis on the last."

Schiff's book is not
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written for someone looking for a concise Franklin biography. Her oblique references to Franco-American relations and misunderstandings, to Franklin's position in the founding father pantheon (she shrinks Adams, who had recently seen a revival, back to size) require from the reader a good working knowledge of history. Franklin's life serves as a theme for countless improvisations and insights about the man, his time and our world.
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LibraryThing member carterchristian1
Interesting what different positions my previous LT reviewers took on this book. It is of course hardly a full blown biography of Franklin, but one that focuses on his French experience. I would judge it competent.
LibraryThing member tburghart
Only because I have the utmost respect for and interest in what Franklin did in Paris did I finish this book.
The prose in this book is so contorted, and the actual information content so weak, that I had to work to finish it. Had I known how little reward would be forthcoming for the effort, I'd
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never have started.
I'm an avid reader of history, and I bought this book because I'd seen some good reviews for it, but I doubt that I'll ever buy another of Ms. Schiff's works again.
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LibraryThing member CritEER
- In support of the American Revolution, Franklin most significant contribution came as ambassador to France and this book concentrates on Franklins 9 years in France (1776 - 1785)
- Franklin was 70 year old and spoke little French when he arrived, yet his diplomatic efforts were often
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brilliant…the American Colonies needed money, munitions, gunpowder and recognition/support from France and Franklin was able to deliver
- Joseph Ellis is spot on when he stated “she (Schiff) is generally regarded as one of the most gifted storytellers writing today” and what makes this book so outstanding is this book reads like a novel with swindles, vendettas, a cast of colorful characters, and humor”
- Stacy Schiff is author of Vera (Mrs Vladimir Nabokov) which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2000
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LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
An engrossing and informative account that goes far beyond common knowledge of the French involvement in the American Revolution and shows additonal sides of important founding fathers.
LibraryThing member Jarratt
My 2-star review is not a reflection on the quality of research, but on the way-too-academic-for-my-taste writing style.
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