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.
