“Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientific
thinking and then does something even more fascinating: He shows
how science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenment
philosophy.”
–Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American
Life
Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of American
independence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day,
the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman,
he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prize
finalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientific
curiosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’s
struggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts how
Franklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day,
the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Rich
in historical detail and based on numerous primary sources,
Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of our
most beloved and complex founding fathers.
關於作者:
PHILIP DRAY is the author of At the Hands of
Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award and the Southern Book Critics
Circle Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer
Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
From the Hardcover edition.