Perspective

This work is a biography, so the author's perspective is omniscient. He is able to look at Franklin's life as a whole and present the information that he thinks is the most relevant to understanding the man, printer, writer, politician, and philosopher. The author has a background with corporations such as CNN and Time Magazine and has written other works on American historical figures. Right off the bat the author mentions the two camps of thought regarding Franklin: people either love him or they hate him. It is clear that the author has a high regard for Franklin, not only from the fact that he writes an entire biography about the man, but also because he is up front about the many opinions of Franklin. He seems to prefer the backwoods sage, though others find Franklin less than profound and even clownish at times. The author makes a...