Franklin's character, genius, and interests are highlighted in a study of his myriad activities and pursuits

Just the Facts Biographies teach young readers about some of history's most interesting people. Benjamin Franklin was one of America's founding fathers. He started the first library and fire department in North America; was the president of the first US antislavery group; ran a printing press and published a newspaper; and was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. This volume uncovers the story behind these facts and more!

Carol Byrd is a college professor of linguistics and feminist criticism, with a reputation in academia as an original feminist. She’s married to John Byrd, also a professor at a midwestern university. Hired by a publishing company to write on the sexist attitudes of the founding fathers, Carol chooses Benjamin Franklin as her subject and begins her research. One night she has a dream in which Franklin appears and explains what kind of book he’d like her to write about him. Certain aspects of his life, he tells her, such as his over-fondness for women, and his lack of spirituality, have been misinterpreted by history and he’d like these corrected. He begins appearing in her dreams regularly as well as in her waking life, guiding her writing and discussing his life and his philosophy with her. At first, she dismisses these experiences as imagination, but begins to be drawn into his story and finds herself taking his side, seeing history his way. Soon she is unable to deny the reality of his presence, and that there are planes of existence outside the physical world. This awareness changes her, expands her world, her marriage, her writing and her outlook on life.

How did Ben Franklin become an outspoken leader of the American Revolution? Learn all about it in seven (not-so-easy) steps in this humorous, accessible middle-grade chapter book that focuses on Ben’s political awakening. Famous founding father Benjamin Franklin was a proud subject of the British Empire—until he wasn’t. It took nearly seventy years and seven not-so-easy steps to turn Benjamin Franklin from a loyal British subject to a British traitor—and a fired-up American revolutionary. In this light, whimsical narrative, young readers learn how Franklin came to be a rebel, beginning with his childhood lesson in street smarts when he buys a whistle at an inflated price. Franklin is a defiant boy who runs away from his apprenticeship, and while he becomes a deep thinker, a brilliant scientist, and a persuasive writer when he grows up, he never loses that spark. As a community leader who tries his best to promote peace and unity both between the colonies and with Great Britain, he becomes more and more convinced that independence for the American colonies is the way forward. Illustrated throughout with art by noted New Yorker cartoonist and illustrator John O’Brien and sprinkled with quotations from Franklin, this unfamiliar story of a familiar figure in American history will surprise and delight young readers.

At times, even his admirers seemed unsure of what to do with General Douglas MacArthur. Imperious, headstrong, and vain, MacArthur matched an undeniable military genius with a massive ego and a rebellious streak that often seemed to destine him for the dustbin of history. Yet despite his flaws, MacArthur is remembered as a brilliant commander whose combined-arms operation in the Pacific -- the first in the history of warfare -- secured America's triumph in World War II and changed the course of history. In The Most Dangerous Man in America, celebrated historian Mark Perry examines how this paradox of a man overcame personal and professional challenges to lead his countrymen in their darkest hour. As Perry shows, Franklin Roosevelt and a handful of MacArthur's subordinates made this feat possible, taming MacArthur, making him useful, and finally making him victorious. A gripping, authoritative biography of the Pacific Theater's most celebrated and misunderstood commander, The Most Dangerous Man in America reveals the secrets of Douglas MacArthur's success -- and the incredible efforts of the men who made it possible.

Presents a biography of the eighteenth-century printer, inventor, and statesman who played an influential role in the early history of the United States.