Benjamin Franklin
Edmund S. Morgan
Yale University Press
I was sorely disappointed by Edmund Morgan's biography of Benjamin Franklin.  Despite having America's most creative, funny, and interesting Founding Father, perhaps second only to George Washington in importance, Ben comes across boring and leaden in Morgan's account.  I found little of Ben's humor and warmth in this book.  While it covered Franklin's scientific and diplomatic efforts in great detail, it spoke little of how Ben helped make America...indeed, I found little to prove him a Founding Father.  I persisted through the interminable treatment of pre-Revolutionary Franklin, hoping for a solid treatment of the Revolutionary War and the Constitutional Convention, only to be completely disappointed.  In sum, I feel that I know only marginally more about Ben after reading this book; I hope Issacson's account illuminates Ben better.