Walter Isaacson recently stepped down from his position as chairman and CEO of the CNN News Group. A journalist for more than 25 years, he previously served as Time Inc.'s editorial director and as Time magazine's managing editor, national affairs writer and political correspondent. A graduate of Harvard and Oxford University, where he was a Rhode Scholar, he is the author of Kissinger: A Biography (S&S, 1992) and co-author (with Evan Thomas) of The Wise Men: Six Friends And The World They Made (S&S, 1986).

ContentsChapter OneBenjamin Franklin and the Invention of AmericaChapter TwoPilgrim's Progress: Boston, 1706-1723Chapter ThreeJourneyman: Philadelphia and London, 1723-1726Chapter FourPrinter: Philadelphia, 1726-1732Chapter FivePublic Citizen: Philadelphia, 1731-1748Chapter SixScientist and Inventor: Philadelphia, 1744-1751Chapter SevenPolitician: Philadelphia, 1749-1756Chapter EightTroubled Waters: London, 1757-1762Chapter NineHome Leave: Philadelphia, 1763-1764Chapter TenAgent Provocateur: London, 1765-1770Chapter ElevenRebel: London, 1771-1775Chapter TwelveIndependence: Philadelphia, 1775-1776Chapter ThirteenCourtier: Paris, 1776-1778Chapter FourteenBon Vivant: Paris, 1778-1785Chapter FifteenPeacemaker: Paris, 1778-1785Chapter SixteenSage: Philadelphia, 1785-1790Chapter SeventeenEpilogueChapter EighteenConclusionsCast of CharactersChronologyCurrency ConversionsAcknowledgmentsSources and AbbreviationsNotesIndex