Franklin & Washington

The Founding Partnership

Edward J. Larson

$32.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

HARPER360
27 May 2021

Biography; History; American War of Independence

"""Larson's elegantly written dual biography reveals that the partnership of Franklin and Washington was indispensable to the success of the Revolution."" —Gordon S. Wood

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian comes a masterful, first-of-its-kind dual biography of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, illuminating their partnership's enduring importance.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • One of Washington Post's ""10 Books to Read in February"" • One of USA Today’s “Must-Read Books"" of Winter 2020 • One of Publishers Weekly's ""Top Ten"" Spring 2020 Memoirs/Biographies

Theirs was a three-decade-long bond that, more than any other pairing, would forge the United States. Vastly different men, Benjamin Franklin—an abolitionist freethinker from the urban north—and George Washington—a slaveholding general from the agrarian south—were the indispensable authors of American independence and the two key partners in the attempt to craft a more perfect union at the Constitutional Convention, held in Franklin’s Philadelphia and presided over by Washington. And yet their teamwork has been little remarked upon in the centuries since.

Illuminating Franklin and Washington’s relationship with striking new detail and energy, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson shows that theirs was truly an intimate working friendship that amplified the talents of each for collective advancement of the American project.

After long supporting British rule, both Franklin and Washington became key early proponents of independence. Their friendship gained historical significance during the American Revolution, when Franklin led America’s diplomatic mission in Europe (securing money and an alliance with France) and Washington commanded the Continental Army. Victory required both of these efforts to succeed, and success, in turn, required their mutual coordination and cooperation. In the 1780s, the two sought to strengthen the union, leading to the framing and ratification of the Constitution, the founding document that bears their stamp.

Franklin and Washington—the two most revered figures in the early republic—staked their lives and fortunes on the American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation. Today the United States is the world’s great superpower, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago—the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college—as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era."

By: Edward J. Larson
Imprint: HARPER360
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 286g
ISBN: 9780062880161
ISBN 10: 0062880160
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 27 May 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Edward J. Larson is University Professor of history and holds the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. He received the Pulitzer Prize in History for Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. His other books include A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign. From 2013 to 2014, Larson was an inaugural Library Fellow at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington located on the grounds of Mount Vernon. He lives in Georgia and California.

Reviews for Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership

"""In 1790, John Adams joked that the history of the Revolution would eventually boil down to Washington and Franklin doing pretty much everything. This was not as much of a joke as Adams imagined: Edward J. Larson's elegantly written dual biography reveals that the partnership of Franklin and Washington was indispensable to the success of the Revolution."" — Gordon S. Wood, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History and the Bancroft Prize, and author of Revolutionary Characters and Empire of Liberty “Franklin & Washington does ample justice to its subjects’ achievements. ... Larson lays down a pairing that has hitherto been neglected. Few would quibble with Mr. Larson’s verdict that George Washington and Benjamin Franklin rank as the pre-eminent Founders: Without the former’s determined leadership of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the latter’s assiduous cultivation of the French support that ultimately secured victory, there would be no United States."" — Stephen Brumwell, Wall Street Journal ""Essential reading. ... Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Larson writes a dual biography of two founding fathers, shedding light on a special partnership and decades-long bond that made America possible."" — USA Today, ""A Best Book of 2020 so far"" “America has always been a team project, and its Founding co-captains are Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. But until now, curiously, there has not been a joint biography worthy of these two great Captains America. Edward J. Larson finally delivers just what we need: a crisp narrative crackling with great stories and deep insights. Equally fun and wise—a rare combination—Franklin & Washington is an indispensable book about our two indispensable Founding Fathers.” — Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University, and author of America's Constitution: A Biography “Larson brings together the lives of these titans, showing how their backgrounds and joint interests made them ideal partners. … An inspired approach for considering the lives and legacies of these two founding fathers.” — Booklist, STARRED Review ""Laudabl[e]. ... A leadership study showing how two different personalities can forge a partnership. ... Well-written and interesting. ... Great leadership teams generally are not composed of people with matching personalities. ... As Larson shows, Franklin and Washington brought two different sets of traits."" — Walter Isaacson, Washington Post ""Larson presents a concise yet engaging narrative that illuminates how individuals can have as much impact on events as broader societal or economic forces."" — USA Today ""Excellent."" — Valdosta Daily Times"