In this fascinating biography, award-winning author Russell Freedman focuses on the curiosity, personality, and ingenuity that made Franklin a giant in the worlds of science, government, diplomacy, and invention. Introduces the life of Benjamin Franklin, detailing how he left home at age seventeen to go to Philadelphia and went on to become an American icon and distinguished statesman, inventor, and scientist.

In 1723 Ben Franklin arrived in Philadelphia as a poor and friendless seventeen-year-old who had run away from his family and an apprenticeship in Boston. Sixty-two years later he stepped ashore in nearly the same spot but was greeted by cannons, bells, and a cheering crowd, now a distinguished statesman, renowned author, and world-famous scientist. Freedman's riveting story of how a rebellious apprentice became an American icon comes in an elegantly designed book filled with art and includes a timeline, source notes, bibliography, and index