Benjamin franklin biography carl van doren wikipedia
Charles van doren.
Benjamin franklin biography carl van doren wikipedia
Benjamin Franklin (book)
1938 book by Carl Van Doren
Benjamin Franklin is a non-fiction biography written by literary critic and biographer Carl Van Doren. The book was originally published in 1938 by Viking Press; it is an authoritative telling of Franklin's life that makes heavy use of his own autobiography and his later papers and essays.
The book was the 1939 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.[1] The book received critical acclaim upon release and has been re-released in numerous editions.
Background
Van Doren signed a deal with Viking and received an advance of $3,000 to complete his biography on Benjamin Franklin.
Van Doren travelled up and down New England visiting various institutions that housed Franklin's papers to research the book, including the archives at the American Philosophical Society, University of Philadelphia, along with Harvard and Yale University among others.
He spent nearly every day exploring these archives for two years