Lorett Treese

I read this in about 2 hours last night. It was a great way to learn American history from a totally different viewpoint. We know the legend of the great Penn, but this is the nitty gritty of what happened next, and a remarkable second, third and even fourth generation that managed to work together despite differences on 2 sides of the Atlantic to govern Pennsylvania, deal with bloody conflicts between the Indians and settlers, and try to manage state lines when Virginians and Yankees from Connecticut tried to infiltrate with their own claims. And at the same tijme these family members worked to maximize the fortunes not of each other individually,but for the larger family.

Franklin does not come out so well.He wanted to take the colony away from the Penns and bring in a royal government .He did not prevail.Pennsylvania was alway a family business.

This would make an excellent assigned reading for a high school, or even college American history course covering the colonial period.

It just so happens that when I picked this up in a thrift sale I also got A Little Revenge by Randall,which gives the story of Franklin and his son with a similar kind of bottoms up take on American history. I expect to have a similar experience… (mere)