Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity

As a reviewer of history books, my initial question about Bunker’s latest work was simply what could he possibly add that numerous previous biographies of Benjamin Franklin haven’t already said? Well . . . quite a bit it turns out.

The winner of the George Washington Prize and Pulitzer finalist works to set the record straight about some of the myths surrounding Benjamin Franklin. Most of which were created by Franklin himself. Chief among these is that Franklin was a self-made man. Bunker demonstrates that in fact Franklin had a lot of help, primarily from wealthy patrons such as Andrew Hamilton.

Bunker gives us clues without overtly solving the mystery of Franklin’s motives for creating these myths. In the details of Franklin’s trip as a teenager to London, he uncovers a plot to ruin Hamilton and exposes this in time to prevent it. Hamilton becomes Franklin’s loyal friend until his death in 1741. By the time Franklin returns from London at the age of eighteen, he is no longer a naive boy but knowledgeable and experienced.

Bunker showcases Franklin’s career path, from publishing to science with his greatest financiers remained deliberately cloaked as mere associates.