Sealed The sold Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Read by Ed Begley Vinyl Record Album LP Spoken Word

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a wonderful record on the Caedmon label read by Ed Begley. From the back cover: George Washington may have been the father of his country, but Benjamin Franklin was most certainly its favorite uncle—was then, and remains so now, more than two centuries later. Unlike the others in our Colonial pantheon, though, who in their formal clothes and ornate language, and with motives which are no longer totally clear to us, have become remote and unreal, Franklin is very human and very modern. He is unique as folk hero and patriotic idol, in that his myth coincides with history.

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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Read by Ed Begley

Vinyl: Factory Sealed
Cover: Factory Sealed, some shrink open at edge, some shelf wear, edge bumps and bends

Double Album Contents:
Side 1
Ancestors and Early Childhood
The Printing Trade
Philadelphia

Side 2
A Trip to London
The Printing Business

Side 3
Moral Principles and Studies
Politics

Side 4
Public Service
The French and Indian War
Experiments With Electricity
The Dispute With England
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Franklin is the archetype of the self-made American, the epitome of everything we consider good about Americans. He went from rags to riches, favor and fame, all by his own doing, without even a fair share of lucky breaks. But what he lacked in good fortune he more than made up in superior intelligence. Here his story differs from others as honest, diligent and thrifty; here his story becomes not a mere catalog of struggle and success, but a manual, the manual par excellence, of how in America a man can start with nothing and win everything, including the love of his countrymen.

The Autobiography, written for his descendants to learn from it how to be happy, useful and successful, carries the same message precisely today. It is, in fact, so contemporary a document that specific Colonial distinguishing marks have been intentionally included—the differences between Boston and Philadelphia in currency and even idiom; that one could drink the Delaware River water in Philadelphia harbor!-lest the listener forget that the action took place before the American Revolution.

In its entirety, the book gives us a quick look at his ancestors, and then covers in considerable detail the personal (as opposed to the public) side of his life until 1757, when Franklin was 51. This album covers about one-third of the written length, and, as is frequently the case with a careful edition, makes easier and more lively going, if not for the historian, then certainly for the student.

We learn here, in short order, that Franklin ran away from home. He felt that to the extent the old man understood him, he could not alter his ways or his circumstances, and to the extent he did not understand, he would have tried to stand in his way. So Franklin left, without even a note, but nevertheless with respect and honor and good manners.

With a scanty formal education, he determined to educate himself. History abounds with tales of boys who walked miles to borrow a book, and stayed up all night to read by the candle. Franklin went further: he decided that what he specifically needed was to study good style, both in speaking and writing. With extraordinary foresight, he knew he needed to excel precisely here; and in an equally extraordinary manner, he devised the means of achieving it.

As he goes from success to success, from honor to honor, he remains singularly true to his own sense of what a man should be. He is aware of the stupidities and malice of other people, of their ignorance and envy and meanness, but he is not superior to others—being not only very intelligent but very wise, he knows he too is a man. Therefore, when Ben Franklin sets out to change the world he succeeds.

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