"I cannot remember ever reading a work of history and biography that is quite so fluent, so perfectly composed and balanced . . ." --The New York Sun
"[Gordon Wood] conveys complex ideas in beguilingly simple prose, and deftly weaves the connections between the different Franklins." --John Brewer, The New York Review of Books
"Exceptionally rich perspective on one of the most accomplished, complex, and unpredictable Americans of his own time or any other." --The Washington Post Book World
"An illuminating, accessible and entertaining contribution to the growing literature about Benjamin Franklin." --San Francisco Chronicle