The wide range of Benjamin Franklin's interests and activities opened the doors of the world to him. Printer, inventor, philosopher, diplomat, champion of liberty, he made his influence felt not only upon his own time, but upon every American generation. His wise maxims and shrewd observations have become national axioms. His Autobiography, as rich in material as it is engaging in style, is a rare American document; it reveals both a rich personality and the crucial events that occurred during the eighty-four years of his lifetime. The selections from his other writings indicate the depth and variety of his many-faceted personality.