Atlantic Cousins: Benjamin Franklin and His Visionary Friends

by Fruchtman, Jack, JR.

• ISBN13: 9781560256687
• ISBN10: 1560256680
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-04-30
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

"Benjamin Franklin and his fellow thinkers of the Enlightenment are among the most intriguing people in history. In nearly all areas - science, politics, social justice, philosophy, medicine - these men and women revolutionized the world around them. Even by our standards, their ideas seem inspired and inspiring." "Atlantic Cousins illuminates the work of these extraordinary visionaries, whose progressive ideas and ideals still ring true today. The author, a veteran writer of popular histories, uses anecdotes and short histories to engage the reader, and he roots it all in intense scholarship and research worthy of the subject matter."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Prologue Franklin's Atlantic Cousins	1	(22)
America
Three Men and the Horrors of Slavery: Whitefield, Benezet, and Sharp	23	(32)
Benjamin Rush, Revolution, Religion, and Medicine	55	(46)
Paine, Revolutionary Zeal, and Engineering	101	(40)
England
Price and Priestley, Religious Dissent and Revolution	141	(28)
Price, Priestley, and Scientific Inquiry	169	(28)
France
Marat and Mesmer, Charlatans or Misunderstood Scientists?	197	(36)
Condorcet, Revolution, and la Republique Francaise	233	(36)
Brissot, Revolutionary Politics, and Democracy	269	(36)
Learning in the New Era	305	(20)
Epilogue A Future of Progress, Liberty, and Justice	325	(8)
Short Titles	333	(2)
Notes	335	(32)
Works Cited	367	(20)
Index	387	(16)
Acknowledgments	403