Written in installments between 1771 and 1790 and left unfinished at his death, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography traces his path from a Boston printer's apprentice to one of the most accomplished men of the eighteenth century - inventor, scientist, publisher, and statesman. Franklin recounts his self-education, his famous scheme of thirteen virtues for moral self-improvement, and the early career that preceded his role in founding a nation, in a voice as plainspoken and shrewd as the man himself. One of the most influential autobiographies in the English language.