Nick Bunker, “Young Benjamin Franklin: the birth of ingenuity”

From his early career as a printer and journalist, to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world where he fought many battles: with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian Nick Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge. A tale of science, politics, war, and religion, Franklin emerges as a brilliant but flawed human being. Presented by the ‘Buzz’ Westfall Favorite Author Series.