The Autobiography and Other Writings

Benjamin Franklin’s account of his rise from poverty and obscurity to affluence and fame has charmed every generation of readers since it first appeared. Begun as a collection of anecdotes for his son, the memoir grew into a history of his remarkable achievements in the literary, scientific, and political realms. A printer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesman, Franklin was also a brilliant writer whose wit and wisdom shine on every page. His Autobiography has deservedly become the most widely read American autobiography of all time—the self-portrait of a quintessential American.

Franklin was a remarkably prolific writer, and is equally beloved for his humorous, philosophical, parodic, and satirical writings, parables, and maxims, which he published under an astonishing number of pen names, including Poor Richard, the Busy-Body, and Silence Dogood. This hardcover edition of The Autobiography and Other Writings contains a varied selection of these, including “The Kite Experiment,” “A Parable Against Persecution,” “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind,” “Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion,” and “The Way to Wealth.”

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790) was a printer, writer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesman. JILL LEPORE is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her books include Book of Ages, a finalist for the National Book Award; New York Burning, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; The Name of War, winner of the Bancroft Prize; The Mansion of Happiness, which was short-listed for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction; and The Secret History of Wonder Woman. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Introduction
Select Bibliography
Chronology
 
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
 
OTHER WRITINGS
 
Silence Dogood (1, 2, 4 & 7)
Franklin’s Epitaph
Old Mistresses Apologue
The Speech of Miss Polly Baker
Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion
Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind
The Kite Experiment
A Parable Against Persecution
The Way to Wealth
Of Lightning
An Edict by the King of Prussia
Petition of the Letter Z
The Whistle
Letter to Joseph Priestley
Information to Those Who Would Remove to America
Letter to Samuel Mather
A Petition of the Left Hand
Speech in the Convention at the Conclusion of its Deliberations
An Address to the Public; From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage
Letter to Ezra Stiles