This then is the audiobook title of choice, and will release at the close of this holiday weekend. This edition is dedicated to all who requested an audio format in order to listen rather than read, and to all those who did so, welcome. You are about to hear the story of American independence for the first time: why Benjamin Franklin, of all people, was pivotal to the outcome, why he was never POTUS, why without him we would likely have two separate United States of America, and why independence might not have occurred until the 19th century. For those familiar with the book, this audio format is going to usher you into the Court of King’s Bench, the study of Dr. John Fothergill, and the parlors of Benjamin Franklin in Craven Street, London, and Passy, Paris. You will hear the voice of Franklin and the voice of James Somersett. We will transport you back to the years leading up to the American Revolution, through the eyes of Franklin, Thomas Pownall, David Barclay, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Edward Bancroft, Lord Mansfield, Granville Sharp, and Anthony Benezet. Some of those names are familiar; some will be new acquaintances. All of them, in their own way, are essential to the story.
To provide you a sample of the audio format, I have attached a sample today, with another to follow at this web site. This first sample invites you into the home of Dr. John Fothergill in March, 1772. Dr. Fothergill is Benjamin Franklin’s private physician, a personal friend for the past 13 years, and the busiest single physician in London. Because of Fothergill’s professional status, he knows every family of prominence in the city and is well recognized at the royal court and by the various peers of the realm, members of Parliament, and prominent merchants and bankers. This will provide Franklin a key contact for introductions to British political officials who hold power and influence throughout the American colonies. With Dr. Franklin and Dr. Fothergill that evening is Thomas Pownall, the leading authority on the day-to-day issues of all the American colonies. Pownall has served as secretary to the Governor of New York, Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, Governor of Massachusetts, Governor of South Carolina, and turned down the offer to serve as Governor of Pennsylvania. He first met Franklin at the Albany Congress of 1754, where the two men drafted the famous “Albany Plan of Union,” the first effort to unify the American colonies to provide for their common defense. They have remained close for nearly 20 years, as this sample opens that evening in Harpur Street, London.
