The Private Franklin: The Man and His Family Book

This follows Franklin and his relation to those around him, especially his family during his life. While Franklin always had a family around him, he was never with the same family all his life. He and Debby marry and are happy, but when he's off to England, he finds a family with the Stevensons and again in Paris he finds many families to be with. In his old age he come full circle with his daughter Sarah's family. When he is with his present family, he seems to shed his other family inPA.

He has a tortured relationship with his son during the Revolution and never forgives his son for having a different idea of duty than his. He dotes on his grandson Temple who is unreliable other than being Franklins secretary. He in many ways comes across as a self centered genius who is in need of directing other people's lives. As such, he often fails. He seems to be an uncaring person. He leaves his wife to die alone even though she asks him to return home so that she can see him one last time.

A genius to whom we owe much too but one who may not have been a success in his personal relations. Yet he was not a friendless man, just one who didn't value some of his family.