Gordon Wood explains Benjamin Franklin like no author has done before. Taking his audience away from the p reconceptions that many Americans have of Franklin, Wood gives a strikingly personal account of his success, failures, and personal life. Wood reveals the ways in which American history has erased Franklin's failures, struggles, disappointments, and above all, his humanity and personality. Wood's method of unmasking the real Franklin is a biography, but often reads like a novel. Gordon Wood, 320 pages, softcover.