His wit is on par with Swift's and belongs squarely in the satirist tradition of the time as exemplified by Pope. But ultimately, this is a great companion piece to Isaacson's superb biography, a book that deserves a place in every home, read in installments and piecemeal, just as Franklin intended. There are accounts of the Constitutional Convention, as well as Franklin's invention of the now infamous "Don't Tread on Me" flag that has been co-opted by neo-militia movements. Franklin never arrived at that point in his Autobiography and the writings here cover the early disputes as well as Franklin's ambassadorships to London and Paris. 'He was, during his eighty-four-year-long life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers,' Isaacson writes. It should be noted that those seeking a lot of insight into the Revolution will not find much here. But several of the works collected here detail his other achievements in wit and reason, including a healthy collection of Poor Richard writings, early printing pranks, and the writings of the early Revolutionary era. The most important, and best, is The Autobiography, a breezy recollection of his curious mind and the rationality behind many of his best inventions, some of which are only recollected in that book. This splendid and thorough collection gathers in one place the most essential self publications of the greatest and most important self publisher in American history, Benjamin Franklin.
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