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Bolt of Fate: Benjamin Franklin and His Electric Kite Hoax by Tom Tucker: Used

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eBay item number:403959697949
Last updated on Jul 25, 2025 07:48:44 SGTView all revisionsView all revisions

Item specifics

Condition
Good: A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including ...
Publication Date
2005-03-16
Pages
297
ISBN
9781586482947

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Public Affairs
ISBN-10
1586482947
ISBN-13
9781586482947
eBay Product ID (ePID)
43438570

Product Key Features

Book Title
Bolt of Fate : Benjamin Franklin and His Fabulous Kite
Number of Pages
320 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2005
Topic
Physics / Electricity, United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775), Essays, Historical, Science & Technology
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Science, Biography & Autobiography, History
Author
'tom' Tucker
Format
Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Weight
12 Oz
Item Length
8.2 in
Item Width
5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
Synopsis
Every schoolchild in America knows that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds above traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. He thereby proved that lightning and electricity were one. What many of us do not realize is that Franklin used this breakthrough in his day's intensely competitive field of electrical science to embarrass his French and English rivals. His kite experiment was an international event and the Franklin that it presented to the world -- a homespun, rural philosopher-scientist performing an immensely important and dangerous experiment with a child's toy -- became the Franklin of myth. In fact, this sly presentation on Franklin's part so charmed the French that he became an irresistible celebrity when he traveled there during the American Revolution. The crowds and the journalists, and the ladies, cajoled the French powers into joining us in our fight against the British. What no one has successfully proven until now -- and what few have suggested -- is that Franklin never flew the kite at all. Benjamin Franklin was an enthusiastic hoaxer. And with the electric kite, he performed his greatest hoax. As Tucker shows, it was this trick that may have won the American Revolution., Every schoolchild in America knows that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds above traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. He thereby proved that lightning and electricity were one. What many of us do not realize is that Franklin used this breakthrough in his day's intensely competitive field of electrical science to embarrass his French and English rivals. His kite experiment was an international event and the Franklin that it presented to the world--a homespun, rural philosopher-scientist performing an immensely important and dangerous experiment with a child's toy--became the Franklin of myth. In fact, this sly presentation on Franklin's part so charmed the French that he became an irresistible celebrity when he traveled there during the American Revolution. The crowds and the journalists, and the ladies, cajoled the French powers into joining us in our fight against the British. What no one has successfully proven until now--and what few have suggested--is that Franklin never flew the kite at all. Benjamin Franklin was an enthusiastic hoaxer. And with the electric kite, he performed his greatest hoax. As Tucker shows, it was this trick that may have won the American Revolution., Every schoolchild in America knows that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds above traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. He thereby proved that lightning and electricity were one. What many of us do not realize is that Franklin used this breakthrough in his day's intensely competitive field of electrical science to embarrass his French and English rivals. His kite experiment was an international event and the Franklin that it presented to the world,a homespun, rural philosopher-scientist performing an immensely important and dangerous experiment with a child's toy,became the Franklin of myth. In fact, this sly presentation on Franklin's part so charmed the French that he became an irresistible celebrity when he traveled there during the American Revolution. The crowds and the journalists, and the ladies, cajoled the French powers into joining us in our fight against the British. What no one has successfully proven until now,and what few have suggested,is that Franklin never flew the kite at all. Benjamin Franklin was an enthusiastic hoaxer. And with the electric kite, he performed his greatest hoax. As Tucker shows, it was this trick that may have won the American Revolution.

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