Book description
Although he called himself merely a "printer" in his will,
Benjamin Franklin could have also called himself a diplomat, a doctor,
an electrician, a frontier general, an inventor, a journalist, a
legislator, a librarian, a magistrate, a postmaster, a promoter, a
publisher -- and a humorist. John Adams wrote of Franklin, "He
had wit at will. He had humor that when he pleased was pleasant and
delightful... [and] talents for irony, allegory, and fable, that he
could adapt with great skill, to the promotion of moral and political
truth." In Benjamin Franklin's Humor, author Paul M. Zall shows
how one of America's founding fathers used humor to further both
personal and national interests. Early in his career, Franklin
impersonated the feisty widow Silence Dogood in a series of comically
moralistic essays that helped his brother James outpace competitors in
Boston's incipient newspaper market. In the mid-eighteenth century, he
displayed his talent for comic impersonation in numerous editions of
Poor Richard's Almanac, a series of pocket-sized tomes filled with
proverbs and witticisms that were later compiled in Franklin's The Way
to Wealth (1758), one of America's all-time bestselling books.
Benjamin Franklin was sure to be remembered for his early work as an
author, printer, and inventor, but his accomplishments as a statesman
later in life firmly secured his lofty stature in American history.
Zall shows how Franklin employed humor to achieve desired ends during
even the most difficult diplomatic situations: while helping draft the
Declaration of Independence, while securing France's support for the
American Revolution, while brokering the treaty with England to end
the War for Independence, and while mediating disputes at the
Constitutional Convention. He supervised and facilitated the birth of
a nation with customary wit and aplomb. Zall traces the development of
an acute sense of humor throughout the life of a great American.
Franklin valued humor not as an end in itself but as a means to gain a
competitive edge, disseminate information, or promote a program. Early
in life, he wrote about timely topics in an effort to reach a mass
reading class, leaving an amusing record of early American culture.
Later, Franklin directed his talents toward serving his country.
Regardless of its origin, the best of Benjamin Franklin's humor
transcends its initial purpose and continues to evoke undying laughter
at shared human experiences.
"Explores Franklin's use of humor from his days as a child
apprentice until almost his last public statement, registering his
concern about American slavery... The other founders almost never make
us laugh. Franklin did and, with some assistance from Zall, goes on
doing so." -- Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
