Popular Posts
-
The Berenstain Bears God Shows the Way by Stan and Jan Berenstain with Mike Berenstain has three separate stories involving the Berenstai... -
The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing by Damion Searls is part biography, part history of one of the m...
-
Magic has always been somewhat fascinating to me. As a child I went through a phase where I was going to be a magician. I got a little magic...
-
No Place to Hide: A Brain Surgeon's Long Journey Home from the Iraq War by W. Lee Warren, M.D. is a firsthand account of about four mon...
-
The Next Christians: How a New Generation Is Restoring the Faith , by Gabe Lyons, describes the defining characteristics of the “new” type ...
-
Fearless by Eric Blehm is the story of a daredevil, crack addict teen who became a member of the top special forces group in the United S...
-
D ivided: When the Head and Heart Don't Agree by Bill Delvaux is a book about the divide many Christians experience between what they ...
-
Previously released as Choosing to Cheat , Andy Stanley's When Work & Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family is...
-
Rudy: My Story by Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger chronicles the life story of a man many people are familiar with – the title character fro...
-
Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis by Stephan Bauman, Matthew Soerens, and Dr. Issam Smeir is a call to Christian...
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The Printer and the Preacher: Ben Franklin, George Whitefield, and the Surprising Friendship that Invented America by Randy Petersen examines the somewhat unlikely friendship that spanned decades of each man's life. Using historical sources, including letters written between the men, Petersen lays out the trajectory of each man's life and how the overlap of their lives helped shape American history.
Petersen gives a thumbnail sketch of each man's life before their first interaction, but the majority of the book is spent discussing how Whitefield and Franklin influenced and helped one another. The way each life is presented, Petersen is trying to get the reader to see many parallels between them. He points out similarities in social standing, success, and thought, especially about engaging with and bettering one's community. The main difference was that Franklin thought the solution to all of society's woes was in civic engagement, and Whitefield thought the solution was Jesus.
The similarities Petersen points out are interesting, though some of them seem like somewhat of a stretch. Whitefield and Franklin did seem to have a symbiotic relationship that made both of them more successful than they could have been alone. It's clear they had a deep respect and affection for one another, though their opinions on many matters varied, sometimes widely. It's an overstatement to claim their friendship "invented America," but it does seem to have been an important relationship that is often overlooked when examining America's history.
The Printer and the Preacher is an interesting book about the friendship of two historically significant men. The pace is somewhat slow, and some of the connections feel forced. There is a fair amount of repetition and conjecture, though Petersen is good about pointing out what are just his thoughts. Overall, anyone who is a fan of early American history or of the first Great Awakening will find this an interesting, if not quite engaging, read.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookLook book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)