Benjamin Franklin

More, Paul Elmer, 1864-1937Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 141K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Benjamin Franklin by Paul Elmer MoreAuthor: More, Paul Elmer, 1864-1937,Language: English, Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861), Release Date: Jul 22, 2009

Editor's review

This book is a critical biography of Benjamin Franklin by Paul Elmer More, falling under the history of America from the Revolution to the eve of the Civil War. More was himself a critic and essayist, and his style carries the reflective temper of early twentieth-century literary biography, unlike the popular biographies common today. Readers will find an important thinker's survey and assessment of Franklin's life and character, touching on Franklin's self-fashioning, public undertakings, and role in his era. As a public-domain ebook, it is freely accessible and serves as a primary source for understanding how Franklin was biographed in earlier periods. It should be read as an opinionated critical biography rather than a compilation of materials, with attention to the author's judgments and selections. Its length and language suit readers with some English proficiency for quiet, attentive reading, and it can be read alongside Franklin's Autobiography to appreciate the differences between the biographer and the subject's own account.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers interested in early American history and the founders
Those who wish to compare biographical approaches and study how Franklin's image has been shaped
Students who need public-domain source material for course reading or writing
Readers who enjoy the critical biography genre and are willing to engage the author's views rather than pure factual narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking only a quick overview or story-driven biography of Franklin
General readers who find English reading difficult and would prefer a Chinese translation
Researchers expecting extensive archival quotations and detailed chronologies

Reading tips

Read Franklin's Autobiography first, then this book, comparing the author's assessments with the subject's own account.
Note More's core judgments as you read, distinguishing factual statements from personal commentary.
Pair it with background material on American history from the Revolution to the pre-Civil War period to understand the biography's era-specific perspective.
With the English original, read slowly chapter by chapter; for long sentences, identify the argument first, then review the evidence.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a complete biography of Franklin or a critical work?

The material indicates this is a critical biography of Franklin by Paul Elmer More, focused on the author's survey and assessment of Franklin's life and character rather than a year-by-year detailed life record. It should be read as biographical writing carrying the author's views, not as a compilation of materials.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The original is in English and was written in the early twentieth century, with sentence structures and diction somewhat more formal than contemporary popular works. It suits readers with college-level English reading ability who can handle long sentences and abstract commentary; those who struggle may first build background with a Chinese biography of Franklin.

Is this book suitable for citation in historical research?

It can serve as material for understanding early biographical writing on Franklin and its evaluative perspective, but it should not be the sole source of historical fact. For research, verify against more primary archives and authoritative biographies, and distinguish the author's commentary from verifiable facts.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

More, Paul Elmer, 1864-1937 Author

Paul Elmer More (1864–1937) was an American literary critic and essayist, though details of his life are limited in publicly available sources. Three of his works are held here: Shelburne Essays, Third Series; Benjamin Franklin; and The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance. These titles suggest a writer whose work spans literary criticism, commentary on historical figures, and epistolary narrative with an editorial perspective. His style leans toward reflection and moral concern, often using the essay form to discuss culture and ideas. The Shelburne Essays series is among his more representative critical collections, reflecting a careful and somewhat conservative literary taste, while his writing on Franklin shows a sustained interest in the American intellectual tradition. More's prose is marked by rigor and restraint, and he held a certain influence in early twentieth-century American criticism.