Franklin & Washington: Founding Partnership

“Larson’s elegantly written dual

biography reveals that the partnership of Franklin and Washington was

indispensable to the success of the Revolution.” –Gordon S. Wood

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian

comes a masterful, first-of-its-kind dual biography of Benjamin Franklin and

George Washington, illuminating their partnership’s enduring importance.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER – One of Washington Post’s “10 Books to Read in February” – One of USA Today’s “Must-Read

Books” of Winter 2020 – One of Publishers Weekly’s

“Top Ten” Spring 2020 Memoirs/Biographies

Theirs was a

three-decade-long bond that, more than any other pairing, would forge the

United States. Vastly different men, Benjamin Franklin–an abolitionist

freethinker from the urban north–and George Washington–a slaveholding general

from the agrarian south–were the indispensable authors of American independence

and the two key partners in the attempt to craft a more perfect union at the

Constitutional Convention, held in Franklin’s Philadelphia and presided over by

Washington. And yet their teamwork has been little remarked upon in the

centuries since.

Illuminating Franklin and Washington’s

relationship with striking new detail and energy, Pulitzer Prize-winning

historian Edward J. Larson shows that theirs was truly an intimate working

friendship that amplified the talents of each for collective advancement

of the American project.

After long sup-porting British rule, both Franklin and Washington became key early proponents of independence. Their friendship gained historical significance during the

American Revolution, when Franklin led America’s diplomatic mission in

Europe (securing money and an alliance with France) and Washington commanded

the Continental Army. Victory required both of these efforts to succeed, and

success, in turn, required their mutual coordination and cooperation. In the

1780s, the two sought to strengthen the union, leading to the framing and

ratification of the Constitution, the founding document that bears their stamp.

Franklin and Washington–the two most revered

figures in the early republic–staked their lives and fortunes on the

American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation. Today

the United States is the world’s great super-power, and yet we also wrestle

with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries

ago–the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances,

the electoral college–as well as the wounds of their compromise over

slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time

to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin

& Washington, a major addition to the literature of the

founding era.

ISBN: 9780062880161

Binding: TRADE

Author: Larson, Edward J

Publisher: Custom House

Page Count: 352

Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 in

Weight: 0.6 lb

Country of Origin: United States

Category: New Arrivals, HISTORY

Minimum Order: 3 (Case Pack: 48)