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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America Hardcover - 2005

by Schiff, Stacy


From the publisher

In this dazzling work of history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author follows Benjamin Franklin to France for the crowning achievement of his career
In December of 1776 a small boat delivered an old man to France." So begins an enthralling narrative account of how Benjamin Franklin-seventy years old, without any diplomatic training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French-convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues; engineered the Franco-American alliance of l778; and helped to negotiate the peace of l783. The eight-year French mission stands not only as Franklin's most vital service to his country but as the most revealing of the man.
In "A Great Improvisation," Stacy Schiff draws from new and little-known sources to illuminate the least-explored part of Franklin's life. Here is an unfamiliar, unforgettable chapter of the Revolution, a rousing tale of American infighting, and the treacherous backroom dealings at Versailles that would propel George Washington from near decimation at Valley Forge to victory at Yorktown. From these pages emerge a particularly human and yet fiercely determined Founding Father, as well as a profound sense of how fragile, improvisational, and international was our country's bid for independence.

Details

  • Title A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
  • Author Schiff, Stacy
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 512
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Henry Holt and Co., New York
  • Date 2005
  • ISBN 9780805066333

About the author

Stacy Schiff is the author of "Vera" (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2000, and "Saint-Exupery," which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize. Schiff's work has appeared in "The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, " and "The Times Literary Supplement." She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She lives in New York City.
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Stacy Schiff

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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Stacy Schiff

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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Stacy Schiff

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ISBN 13
9780805066333
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Stacy Schiff

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ISBN 13
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A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Schiff, Stacy

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ISBN 13
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
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A Great Improvisation : Franklin, France, and the Birth of America

by Schiff, Stacy

  • Used
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ISBN 13
9780805066333
ISBN 10
0805066330
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