topics: |  autobiography | usa | history

Peter Baida in his
Poor Richard's Legacy: American Business Values from Benjamin Franklin to Michael Milken,
says of this book:
     [With] a full text of the autobiography and a wonderful selection of
     Franklin's other writings, including the full texts of "Advice to a
     young tradesman," "The way to wealth," and the "Standing queries for the
     Junto," ...  [t]his little book is a bargain that Franklin would have
     appreciated. 343

CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

PART TWO: SELECTED WRITINGS

I. The Way to Wealth
  Plan for Future Conduct / Advice to a Young Girl / The Art of Conversation /
  Advice to a Young Tradesman / "The Way to Wealth"

II. Essays to Do Good
  Standing Queries for the Junto / "A Short Account of the Library" /
  Fire-Fighting / The American Philosophical Society / The Pennsylvania Academy

III. The New Prometheus, I: Franklin the Scientist
  The Young Naturalist / The Meteorologist / Experimenter in Electricity /
  Franklin's Kite / The Lightning Rod / Humane Slaughtering /
  The Franklin Stove / The First American Catheter / The Glass Harmonica /
  Youthful Inventor / Bifocals / The Long Arm

IV. The New Prometheus, II: Franklin and the Revolution
  The Stamp Act / After Repeal / The Weapon of Satire /
  A Counsel of Moderation / America in Arms / The French Alliance / Busy Days /
  "Let Us Now Forgive and Forget" /
  "Sketch of the Services of B. Franklin to the United States of America"

V. The Family Man
  Deborah Read / Franky Franklin's Death / Katy Ray /
  Franklin's London Family / Polly Stevenson / The Shipley Girls /
  Deborah's Last, Lonely Years / "A Thorough Courtier" / The Ladies of France /
  A Treaty of the Heart / Rejected Suitor / Home Again

VI. Something of His Religion
  A Practical Theology /
  "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain" /
  A Reconsideration of Freethinking /
  Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion / A Summary of Belief /
  "Here is My Creed"

Notes on Sources / Sources / Additional Reading
Afterword: Imagining Benjamin Franklin