Printer, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, scientist, librarian, diplomat, inventor, philosopher, self-aggrandizer, and social wag, Benjamin Franklin is one of the most fascinating characters in all of American history - a quality that was not lost on the man himself, as his autobiography makes plain. Avoiding the strife of the American Revolution entirely, Franklin focuses his incisive wit on the culture and society of colonial Philadelphia, weaving a mostly true mythology of humble origins and hard work that created the concepts of "The American Dream" and "the self-made man." Originally published in French in 1791, and translated into English and published in London in 1793, this is considered the great autobiography of life in colonial America. American icon BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), born in Massachusetts to a British immigrant father and colonial mother, published the famour Poor Richards' Almanack," helped found the University of Pennsylvania, and was the first Postmaster General of the United States. Franklin's likeness adorns, among other things, the United States hundred-dollar bill