A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff

A Great Improvisation:  Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff

Started: 6/23/2024
Completed: 6/29/2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

deracinated -- uprooted from one's natural geographical, social, or cultural environment

obsequious -- obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

Review:

I enjoy stories about John Adams.  This one makes John Adams look like a country bumpkin who gracelessly insulted Franklin despite Franklin being an overall great guy.  Schiff is enamored of her subject and that is fine.  I really liked hearing about Franklin from someone who really liked him.  Who treated some of his womanizing as a man seeking love (as he undoubtedly was) instead of a cur who would sleep with anything in a skirt.  It is nice to hear this side of Franklin presented well.  I also had no idea how much of his work in France was not noticed (largely because of his lack of letters, both from not writing and from losses at sea).  I am constantly reminded when I read a biography like this how hard it was to communicate.