Tells the rich story of one of America's most celebrated Founding Fathers. Features his original writings and hands-on activities from his era, a time line, glossary, Web and travel resources, and reading list for further study

"In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the more enigmatic aspects of Franklin?s biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son William. When he was twenty-four, Franklin fathered a child with a woman who was not his wife. He adopted the boy, raised him, and educated him to be his aide. Ben and William became inseparable. After the famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment,...