This book has been written primarily from original sources, published and unpublished, and in particular from the surviving letters that passed between Franklin and his family and friends—only a fraction, alas, of the total written—and including a good many not likely to be printed anywhere else ( for even the monumental edition of the Franklin Papers at Yale has to be limited to letters by or to Franklin in person ). It is not intended as a general biography of Franklin: Claude-Anne Lopez and Eugenia W. Herbert have filled in the background of his life only to the extent that it seemed necessary to their theme, and they have tried to see his many activities first and foremost from the vantage point of his family. At the same time they have endeavored to keep the cast of characters down, excluding many worthy relatives, friends, and enemies, out of consideration for the non-specialist reader, preferring to offer a sample rather than a multitude.