Benjamin Franklin (Gutenberg Index)

Benjamin Franklin was the original American original: printer, inventor, diplomat, and the most charming wit of the Enlightenment. This comprehensive collection gathers his essential works, from the endlessly readable Autobiography that invented the self-made man narrative, to The Way to Wealth, the pithy aphorisms that still underpin American practicality. Here too are his scientific papers (including the legendary kite experiment), his satirical essays, his political tracts, and the letters that helped forge a nation. Franklin wrote with clarity, humor, and relentless curiosity about how things work both in laboratories and in life. He believed in improvement, both personal and civic, and his words still possess the power to make readers feel that anything is possible. This is Franklin in his full multiplicity: the philosopher and the politician, the scientist and the sage. For anyone who wants to understand the foundations of American thought, there is no better place to start.