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Great Improvisation: Franklin, France and Birth of America
Stacy Schiff
In this dazzling work of history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author follows Benjamin Franklin to France for the crowning achievement of his career.
Henry Holt
April 2005
Featuring: Benjamin Franklin
512 pages
ISBN: 0805066330
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
In December of 1776 a small boat delivered an old man to
France." So begins an enthralling narrative account of how
Benjamin Franklin-seventy years old, without any diplomatic
training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French-
convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite
America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood
he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By
virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin
outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile
colleagues; engineered the Franco-American alliance of
l778; and helped to negotiate the peace of l783. The eight-
year French mission stands not only as Franklin's most
vital service to his country but as the most revealing of
the man. In A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff draws from new and
little-known sources to illuminate the least-explored part
of Franklin's life. Here is an unfamiliar, unforgettable
chapter of the Revolution, a rousing tale of American
infighting, and the treacherous backroom dealings at
Versailles that would propel George Washington from near
decimation at Valley Forge to victory at Yorktown. From
these pages emerge a particularly human and yet fiercely
determined Founding Father, as well as a profound sense of
how fragile, improvisational, and international was our
country's bid for independence.
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