Paul C. Pasles is associate professor of mathematical sciences at Villanova University. Few American lives have been as celebrated--or as closely scrutinized--as that of Benjamin Franklin. Yet until now Franklin's biographers have downplayed his interest in mathematics, at best portraying it as the idle musings of a brilliant and ever-restless mind. In Benjamin Franklin's Numbers, Paul Pasles reveals a side of the iconic statesman, scientist, and...

A revelatory portrait of Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister and a wholly different account of the founding of the United States.

Benjamin Frankiln's Bastard by Sally Cabot is an absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution - the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them both. William Franklin, the son of Benjamin and his favorite mistress, Anne, is raised by Deborah, Benjamin's wife. A steadfast loyalist, he and his father cannot reconcile their wildly disparate...

A descendant of the Montgolfier brothers, who invented the hot air balloon will join a team to build a highly accurate replica of the fragile paper and canvas craft using 18th century tools and materials. NOVA reveals the secrets of how the Montgolfiers invented flight, and evokes the thrilling and daunting prospect that the balloon pioneers faced as they left Earth for the first time. Their exploits fascinated Benjamin Franklin, who was serving in...