A Great Improvisation
A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America Stacy Schiff, Jason Culp (Reader)
Publisher: Random House Audio
ISBN: 0739320386
DDC: 327.7304409033
Edition: Audio CD; 2005-03-22
Summary:
Benjamin Franklin began the "the most taxing assignment of his life"
at the age of 70: to secure the aid of the French monarchy in helping
the fledgling United States establish their republic. The job
required tremendous skill, finesse, and discretion, and as Stacy
Schiff makes clear in this brilliant book, Franklin was the ideal
American, perhaps the only one, to take on the task, due in large
part to his considerable personal prestige. One of the most famous
men in the world when he landed in France in December 1776, his
arrival caused a sensation--he was celebrated as a man of genius, a
successor to Newton and Galileo, and treated as a great dignitary,
even though the nation he represented was less than a year old and
there were many doubts as to whether it would see its second
birthday. Though he had no formal diplomatic training and spoke only
rudimentary French, Franklin managed to engineer the Franco-American
alliance of 1778 and the peace treaty of 1783, effectively inventing
American foreign policy as he went along, in addition to serving as
chief diplomat, banker, and director of American naval affairs.
Franklin recognized and accepted the fact that French aid was crucial
to American independence, but some Founding Fathers resented him for
making America dependent on a foreign power and severely attacked him
for securing the very aid that saved the cause. Schiff offers
fascinating coverage of this American infighting, along with the
complex political intrigue in France, complete with British spies and
French double agents, secret negotiations and backroom deals. A Great
Improvisation is an entertaining and illuminating portrait of
Franklin's seven-year adventure in France that "stands not only as
his greatest service to his country but the most revealing of the
man." --Shawn Carkonen
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