Born when Ben Franklin was only 24, his illegitimate son William was adopted, raised, and educated by his father to be his aide, and indeed proved essential in many of Franklin's most famous endeavors. But William became the Royal Governor of New Jersey a decade before the Revolution, and his devotion to King and Country shattered the family. Biographer and poet Daniel Mark Epstein brilliantly reconstructs Ben and William's complex relationship.

"A gripping history of a family torn apart by political upheaval.... Drawing on much unpublished correspondence as well as published works, the author constructs a fast-paced, vivid narrative with a host of characters whose appearance and personality he etches with deft concision.... A perceptive, gritty portrayal of the frenzy of war and a father and son caught at its tumultuous center."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)