Philip Dray

Award-winning author Philip Dray delves into the lesser-known side of an American icon in Stealing God's Thunder. Benjamin Franklin, more often viewed as a statesman and founding father than as a man of science, challenged religion, science, and reason with his inventions. But in a time when everything was blamed on sin, it was the lightning rod- Franklin's attempt to control the heavens-that caused the greatest controversy.

"Embodying the classic American traits of resourcefulness and rugged independence, the hunter looms larger than life in our national mythology, occupying a unique--and uniquely fraught--place in the American psyche. Popularized in the nineteenth century as a way to reconnect "soft" urban Americans with nature, for many years sport hunting was the national pastime of Americans from all walks of life, while it became a common theme in literature, art,...

Presents a life of the African American journalist who was born a slave and went on to become a respected teacher and journalist, and who is best remembered for her campaign through her writings to eliminate lynching in the United States.