• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

  • By: Walter Isaacson
  • Narrated by: Nelson Runger
  • Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (8,610 ratings)

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life  By  cover art

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

By: Walter Isaacson
Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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Publisher's summary

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings.

In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours.

The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity. His guiding principle was a "dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people". Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. He chronicles Franklin's tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris. He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the 21st century.

©2003 Walter Isaacson (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"The most readable full-length Franklin biography available." ( The Washington Post Book World)
"Energetic, entertaining, and worldly." ( The New Yorker)
"In its common sense, clarity and accessibility, it is a fitting reflection of Franklin's sly pragmatism.... This may be the book that most powerfully drives a new pendulum swing of the Franklin reputation." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Featured Article: 45+ Wise, Wry, and Surprisingly Timely Benjamin Franklin Quotes


One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents. He was a brilliant scientist, inventor, writer, diplomat, and humorist who left his mark on the world through his creative drive, intellectual prowess, and unique sense of humor. He lived an extraordinary life that continues to have an impact. Read on for Ben Franklin’s epochal quotes from his autobiography, correspondences, and Poor Richard’s Almanac.

What listeners say about Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slooooow Reader - Great Bio

I thoroughly enjoyed this once I set the read speed to 1.5x. The native speed of the narrator is painfully slow, hence the 2 stats. over all, I enjoyed it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not an engaging biography

I love good historical biographies for people I'm interested in from eighteenth to twentienth centuries, like, Washington, Bertie, Turman, Wilson, the Life of John Hay, No Ordinary Time and Morris’s trilogy of Teddy Roosevelt. There are a few that really didn’t engage me and this is one.

I found this book very dry, not detailed in the narrative. It may be due to the lack of actual details available, but Washington was a contemporary and Washington, A Life was profoundly good and engrossing. Bertie (future King Edward VII) was even earlier and is fascinating (but also was read by the unbelievably talented Carole Boyd).

The narrator doesn’t help. I’ve listened to him on other books where his narration didn’t detract from the book (didn’t help either), so I want to be fair to him here. Even if I don’t care for the narrator, I ask myself why I don’t like this book about an amazing man. What I come up with is that I feel like I’m being lectured to in a history class.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Most Fascinating of Our Founding Fathers

Where does Benjamin Franklin: An American Life rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As a biography, this is one of the better ones I've read

What did you like best about this story?

The inclusion of many of B Franklin's writings and quotations as opposed to just telling his story really gives the reader a better window into his thoughts and viewpoints.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narrator was one of the poorest of the dozens of audible books I've experienced. He made nearly continuous sounds that distracted me from the story. It wasn't clearing his throat or other loud noises but rather small sounds during pauses that I haven't experienced with other narrators. I would say that when I was in an active environment, like running and listening, they didn't bother me. But in a quite environment they were noticeable, constant and distracting.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was surprised to find out both how amiable and agreeable Benjamin Franklin was with his many peers and historical contacts and yet so cold and uncompromising with his own family.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

too many trivialities

The book contains too many trivialities that depreciate appreciation and understanding of such a great man as Benjamin Franklin. Everything sounds overly monotonous and "flat" with almost equal value and time given to his greatest inventions and contributions as to his casual flirtations.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Wanted to like it

Really wanted to like this book, but couldn’t even finish it. I know Ben franklin was an interesting character, so I can’t figure if it was just that the narration was poor or the writing was dull. It just wasn’t worth the time.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Recording

The guy who read this keep swallowing into the microphone and smacking his lips. It was very annoying to the point of quitting this book. Long and slightly boring is ok for history. The guy who read this was totally annoying.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love Franklin,. love this book

a very thorough and entertaining book. very thorough and easier to get through as an audible. I became simply amazed at everything that Franklin has given us as a nation and to the world.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very thorough but terrible narration

Well done by isaacson but listening experience was ruined by terrible narrator. Recommend a rerecording.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

You can hear the reader chew

it's okay but nothing exceptional, and the reader is really anoying. the story gets very focused un triviality ay times

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • VG
  • 01-28-18

A Very Thorough Biography Of Franklin

This was a very detailed biography of Franklin. It's not quite chronological - there is a lot of skipping back and forth in time, which I didn't love. The narrator was a distraction for me. He was very sloooooooow and I found the voice he used for Ben Franklin particularly annoying - like he was trying to sound like a little old man (even for the young Franklin). I finally had to speed up to 1.5x to get through it. Overall, it's a good biography if you are extremely interested in learning all about BF and his influence on America through the present age. There is an abridged version of this audiobook with a different narrator. I wish I had listened to that one instead.

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2 people found this helpful