A dangerous engine : Benjamin Franklin, from scientist to diplomat / Joan Dash ; pictures by Dušan Petričić.

1st ed.

9780374306694
0374306699

New York : Frances Foster Books, 2006.

English

246 p.: ill. ; 21 cm.

E302.6.F8 D2165 2006

973.3/092 B

At the time of his famous kite experiment, Benjamin Franklin was unaware that his theories about electricity had already made him a celebrity all over Europe, especially in France, where fashionable circles loved to discuss scientific discovery. Admired by the French court and beloved by French citizens, Franklin effectively became America's first foreign diplomat, later helping to enlist France's military and financial support for the American Revolution. A father of the revolution and a signer of the Constitution, Franklin was a lightning rod in political circles - "a dangerous Engine," according to a critic. And although he devoted the last twenty-five years of his life to affairs of state, his first love was always science. Handsome pen-and-ink drawings highlight moments in this revolutionary thinker's life.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-240) and index.

James Madison Book Award, 2007.

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