{"id":343,"date":"2015-06-17T20:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T19:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgegoodwin.wordpress.com\/?page_id=343"},"modified":"2026-04-21T00:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:02:54","slug":"benjamin-franklin-in-london","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/?page_id=343","title":{"rendered":"Benjamin Franklin in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ben-franklin-plus-credit.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin in London<\/h2>\n

See below for a list of articles. <\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

For Review\u00a0Coverage here<\/a>
\n+<\/span> \u00a0See Events & Coverage Page<\/span><\/strong> for\u00a0Podcasts\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Benjamin Franklin<\/strong> was, for the great majority of his long life,\u00a0a loyal British royalist. In 1757, having made his fortune in Philadelphia and established his fame as a renowned experimental \u2018scientist\u2019, he crossed the Atlantic to live as a gentleman in the heaving metropolis of London. With just a brief interlude, a house in in Craven Street was to be his home until 1775.<\/p>\n

From there he mixed with both the brilliant and the powerful. He counted David Hume, Matthew Boulton, Edmund Burke and Erasmus Darwin among his friends; and he had access to successive Prime Ministers and even to King George III himself.<\/p>\n

However, Benjamin Franklin was also an American colonial representative. Though he long sought to prevent the break with Great Britain, his own actions would finally help cause that very event. In 1775, on the very eve of the American War of Independence, Franklin fled arrest and escaped by sea. By the next year, he had become one of the firmest of American patriots. Long-term relationships, both political and personal would be at an end and he would never return to London.<\/p>\n

George Goodwin, the acclaimed author of Fatal Colours: Towton 1461<\/em> and of Fatal Rivalry: Flodden 1513<\/em>,\u00a0places the brilliant and energetic Dr Franklin, an engaging, but sometimes enigmatic man, in a vibrant London that was the epicentre of\u00a0 the 18th<\/sup> century\u2019s new global super-power.\u00a0We see him at home with his landlady Mrs Stevenson and her delightful daughter Polly. We join him at St Paul\u2019s coffee house and the Royal Society, at the George & Vulture and within the grand houses of contending political peers.\u00a0We accompany him on summer travels, whether to Scotland and Ireland, or across the Channel to\u00a0Continental Europe. We meet extraordinary characters such as Thomas Paine, James Boswell and even the notorious Sir Francis Dashwood, and spend time with Dr Johnson\u2019s publisher William Strahan, the scientist Joseph Priestley and botanist Peter Collinson.<\/p>\n

Never before has an author concentrated on the fullness of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s life in London and, in so doing, Goodwin arrives at some striking conclusions. At all times,\u00a0he observes with gimlet eye and writes in his customary evocative and entertaining style.\u00a0Benjamin Franklin in London<\/em> is an enthralling portrait of a man, a city and an age.<\/p>\n

George Goodwin articles linked to the publication of Benjamin Franklin in London<\/em> (February 2016)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘Ben\u00a0Franklin Was One-Fifth Revolutionary, Four-Fifths London Intellectual’<\/span>, Smithsonian Magazine<\/em>, 2 March \u00a02016\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n

‘The Revolution of Benjamin Franklin’<\/span>,\u00a0BBC History Magazine,<\/em> February 2016<\/strong>\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n

‘<\/span>How the Brits Lost America’<\/span>,\u00a0History Today, April 2016 issue\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Benjamin Franklin in London – Finding his Footsteps’,<\/strong><\/span> London Historian<\/strong>, <\/em>February 2016<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Benjamin Franklin at Historic Royal Palaces’,<\/span>\u00a0Inside Story\u00a0<\/em>for Historic Royal Palaces Annual Members, Spring 2016<\/strong>\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n

‘Benjamin Franklin and the Stamp Act’<\/span>, <\/strong>\u00a0London Historian<\/strong>, <\/em>18 March<\/strong>\u00a02016\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘Benjamin Franklin in London’<\/span>, The American, March-April 2016<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 All articles are copyright and not to be reproduced without permission<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Benjamin<\/div>\n

UK:
\n<\/span>Weidenfeld & Nicolson<\/strong>, Orion Publishing Co. (Hachette).\u00a0\u00a0Hardback<\/strong>, ISBN: 9780297871538, \u00a325.00.\u00a0 Paperback, <\/span><\/span><\/strong>ISBN:<\/span><\/span> 9781780227351, \u00a39.99.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\nE-book ID:<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>9780297871545,\u00a0\u00a312.99.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

USA & Canada<\/span>:
\nYale University Press<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Hardback<\/strong>, ISBN:\u00a0978-0-300-22024-7,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>$32.50.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Trade Paperback: <\/span><\/span><\/strong>ISBN:<\/span><\/span> 9780300226966, $22.00.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

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<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benjamin Franklin in London See below for a list of articles. For Review\u00a0Coverage here + \u00a0See Events & Coverage Page for\u00a0Podcasts\u00a0here\u00a0 Benjamin Franklin was, for the great majority of his long life,\u00a0a loyal British royalist. In 1757, having made his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}