Ken Burns, one of the greatest documentary historians, has turned his lens to a great American hero, Benjamin Franklin. Burns and his colleagues have educated us with many wonderful documentary series ranging from political leaders (the Roosevelts) to athletes (baseball) to musical genres (Jazz, Country) to subjects like the Civil War, Vietnam War or creation of US National parks. Unlike the other documentaries, Burns has boiled the vast career of Franklin into a two-part series, which is well worth the watch.
Borrowing from his normal format of wonderful narration with Peter Coyote, well-known actors like Mandy Patinkin, Liam Neeson, Paul Giamatti, et al, and expressive historians, Burns paints a well-deserved picture of the importance of Franklin’s life. With 20,000 people attending his funeral, that is an indication of what Franklin meant to people when he passed away at the age of 84.
In fact, one of the historians, the author Walter Isaacson, said Franklin was as important to the colonies winning the Revolutionary War as George Washington. It was Franklin who helped people collaborate to get agreements done, even when they did not like each other. But, more importantly, it was Franklin who secured funding time and again from France for the war effort. This is especially artful an accomplishment, when France did not have the money to give. And, the historians noted the peace agreement he worked on with John Adams and John Jay with the British was the most one-sided agreement to date.
These accomplishments would be sufficient, but he helped the colonists communicate with his printing press and newsletters early on and he proved that lightning did create electricity through his scientific study. This latter accomplishment was essential in moving forward the global harnessing of the power of electricity, which had before been more of a parlor trick.
I won’t repeat what the documentary does so well. A sad takeaway is he and his son were estranged for the rest of his life, after the son fought on behalf of the British during the war. His only conversation with his son was through his grandchildren, one of which was a scribe as he traveled in Paris to get funding and effectuate a peace agreement.
There is a link below to the documentary. I encourage you to give it a watch, even if you only catch parts of it.
musingsofanoldfart 
I’ve heard great things about the documentary and intend to watch it soon. I didn’t know that about his son. How sad.
Janis, I hope you enjoy. That is a sad surprise about his son. Keith
I got an email notification of this Ken Burns documentary yesterday from Atlas Obscura and immediately bookmarked it to watch this weekend! Ken Burns is, as you said, one of the greatest documentary historians and I’ve never seen anything by him that I didn’t like.
Jill, it is worth the four hours of time. Enjoy. Keith
I started it this evening, but kept falling asleep — not because I wasn’t enjoying it, for I WAS — but just because I haven’t been sleeping well and was exhausted. Maybe tomorrow!
Jill, it may be something about Peter Coyote’s soothing voice. Keith
I hope this makes it across the Atlantic in some format.
Burns & Novick’s documentary on Vietnam was so seamless in its narration it was successfully formatted into an audio book
Roger, I agree. Franklin had many friends in England and it pained him to be on the opposing side. It also made him the ideal diplomat to craft a peace agreement. Keith
Recently, by coincidence I listened to audio books and podcasts all of which confirmed he did not fly a kite in a thunderstorm.
Roger, he did get kudos for proving lightning caused electricity and others ran with it. We Americans like to embellish our stories, which I ate up as a boy. I read entire bookshelves from the library on “so and so as a boy” in elementary school. Keith
Ken Burns never disappoints. Being a native Philly girl, I was excited to watch this documentary. Ben was a character.
Lisa, indeed he was. I was fascinated toward the end how John Adams was not a huge fan due to Franklin being such a character. Yet, they worked together to craft a peace agreement with John Jay as their third member. Keth
Lots of good things can be born if we open our hearts and free ourselves from judgement. I’m glad John Adams loosened up enough to recognize Ben’s unique mind.
Agreed on all counts.