In the 1740s, two quite different developments revolutionized
Anglo-American life and thought--the Enlightenment and the Great
Awakening. This book takes an encounter between the paragons of each
movement--the printer and entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin and the
British-born revivalist George Whitefield--as an opportunity to explore
the meaning of the beginnings of modern science and rationality on one
hand and evangelical religious enthusiasm on the other.
There are people who both represent the times in which they live and
change them for the better. Franklin and Whitefield were two such men.
The morning that they met, they formed a long and lucrative partnership:
Whitefield provided copies of his journals and sermons, Franklin
published them. So began one of the most unique, mutually profitable,
and influential friendships in early American history.
By focusing this study on Franklin and Whitefield, Peter Charles Hoffer
defines with great precision the importance of the Anglo-American
Atlantic World of the eighteenth century in American history. With a
swift and persuasive narrative, Hoffer introduces readers to the
respective life story of each man, examines in engaging detail the
central themes of their early writings, and concludes with a description
of the last years of their collaboration.
Franklin's and Whitefield's intellectual contributions reach into our
own time, making Hoffer's readable and enjoyable account of these
extraordinary men and their extraordinary friendship relevant today.
Also in the Witness to History series
The Huron-Wendat Feast of the Dead: Indian-European Encounters in Early
North America by Erik R. Seeman
King Philip's War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End
of Indian Sovereignty by Daniel R. Mandell
The Caning of Charles Sumner: Honor, Idealism, and the Origins of the
Civil War by Williamjames Hull Hoffer
Bloodshed at Little Bighorn: Sitting Bull, Custer, and the Destinies of
Nations by Tim Lehman
