Benjamin Franklin ist eine der außergewöhnlichsten Gestalten der amerikanischen Geschichte. Der Reichtum seiner Talente würde leicht mehrere Leben ausfüllen: ein großer Staatsmann, ein bedeutender Wissenschaftler und genialer Erfinder, Bestsellerautor, erster Generalpostmeister der Vereinigten Staaten, Drucker, Bonvivant, Liebling der Frauen, Diplomat und Moralist. Zum 300. Geburtstag am 17. Januar 2006 liegt nun in deutscher Sprache Edmund Morgans meisterhafte Biographie vor. Edmund Morgan, einer der angesehensten Historiker der Vereinigten Staaten, schildert mit der Souveränität des großen Kenners Benjamin Franklins Leben in all seinen tiefgreifenden Widersprüchen. Ein zögerlicher Revolutionär, bedauerte Franklin noch den Bruch mit dem britischen Mutterland, als er bereits an der Spitze der amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung stand. Trotz seiner Begeisterung für die Wissenschaft hielt er seine bahnbrechenden Experimente für weit weniger wichtig als seine bürgerlichen Pflichten. Und obwohl er intensiv an der Unabhängigkeitserklärung und an der Verfassung mitwirkte, hatte er doch gehofft, dass die neue amerikanische Regierung eine andere Gestalt annehmen würde. Morgan gelingt es in seiner differenzierten Biographie, die enigmatischen Seiten der Persönlichkeit Franklins aufzuhellen und zugleich ein Panorama des 18. Jahrhunderts zu entwerfen.
Edmund S. Morgan Bücher






Prologue to Revolution
Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766
- 180 Seiten
- 7 Lesestunden
Focusing on the Stamp Act, this source book offers a detailed case study of American colonial history and its impact on Anglo-American relations in the 1760s. It features sixty-five essential documents that cover various aspects of the crisis, providing a thorough examination of the significant issues and controversies surrounding this pivotal event. The collection serves as a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of the Stamp Act and its historical context.
Thoughtful, suggestive and highly readable.-New York Times Book Review schovat popis
The Puritan Family
- 208 Seiten
- 8 Lesestunden
The Puritans came to New England not merely to save their souls but to establish a "visible" kingdom of God, a society where outward conduct would be according to God's laws. This book discusses the desire of the Puritans to be socially virtuous and their wish to force social virtue upon others.
The Genuine Article: A Historian Looks at Early America
- 320 Seiten
- 12 Lesestunden
Focusing on the daily lives and complexities of early Americans, this collection features twenty-five essays by historian Edmund S. Morgan, spanning four decades. It provides insightful commentary on various topics, from the founding settlements like Jamestown to the intricacies of Southern plantation life. Morgan explores the personal and political dimensions of figures such as James Madison, revealing the enduring narratives that shape American history. His profound observations offer a rich and nuanced portrait of the nation's formative years and its influential leaders.
In one remarkable quarter-century, thirteen quarrelsome colonies were transformed into a nation. Edmund S. Morgan's classic account of the Revolutionary period shows how the challenge of British taxation started the Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom and eventually led to the Revolution.Morgan demonstrates that these principles were not abstract doctrines of political theory but grew instead out of the immediate needs and experiences of the colonists. They were held with passionate conviction, and incorporated, finally, into the constitutions of the new American states and of the United States.Though the basic theme of the book and his assessment of what the Revolution achieved remain the same, Morgan has updated the revised edition of The Birth of the Republic (1977) to include some textual and stylistic changes as well as a substantial revision of the Bibliographic Note.
Virginians at Home, Family Life in the Eighteenth Century
- 132 Seiten
- 5 Lesestunden