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The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volumes 1 and 2 (University of Pennsylvania Press)

Currently, I'm writing a seven-volume biography of Benjamin Franklin. Volumes one and two appeared in the fall of 2005. Volume 1 takes Franklin through his boyhood up to his marriage at age 24 in 1730. It describes his apprenticeship to his brother James, his writing for his brother's newspaper, The New England Courant, running away to Philadelphia at age 17, working in London at age 19-20, returning to Philadelphia in 1726, and starting his own business. The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2, 1730-1747 begins with his common-law marriage to Deborah and the mystery of his illegitimate son, William, who was probably born in 1728. Each volume has new Franklin attributions, new biographical facts, new interpretations, and more sustained critical appreciations of his writings than any previous biography.

I have compiled a documentary history of Franklin. In 1997, Richard Duggan, formerly the English Department's computer ace, put the portion through 1747 on-line as Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History. I have also edited the accounts of Franklin. Currently, William Simpson, a librarian and computer ace, is putting those through 1748 on-line through the University of Delaware's Library Institutional Repository.

Reviews

"Veteran Franklin scholar Lemay offers a highly detailed examination of one of the most fascinating of America's founders."—Publishers Weekly

"Lemay's final output will do for the popular interest in our revolution and early founding what Douglas Southall Freeman's magisterial Lee's Lieutenants did for our fixation on the Civil War. . . . I can't wait for Mr. Lemay's next volumes."—Washington Times

"Under Mr. Lemay's narrative spell, Franklin emerges as the greatest of Americans. . . . It takes an awesome biography to do justice to such a man, and that is exactly what Mr. Lemay is writing."—New York Sun

Volume 3 of the Life, 1748-1757 (which takes Franklin from his retirement as a printer to his mission to England as a representative of Pennsylvania's assembly) has been drafted, but I will revise it several times before sending it off about the latter part of October, 2006. The volume contains more political, intellectual, and military matters than either preceding one. During these nine years, Franklin became the world's most famous living scientist, wrote the fundamental document of the American Revolution, and acted as the commander-in-chief with the military title of "General" during the French and Indian War. Before Christmas, I hope to start volume 4, which will cover both Franklin's stay in England from 1757 to 1762 and his two years back in America, 1762-64. I feature Franklin's writings throughout, for he was the major American author of the eighteenth century.

Although I am officially on leave from both teaching and service until the fall semester of 2010 (when I may decide to retire, depending on my health, wealth, and happiness), I continue working with my Ph.D. students and will be happy to take on other graduate students whose projects especially interest me.

For more information, see the English Department's faculty profile for J. A. Leo Lemay.

J. A. Leo Lemay

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor