Rebels And Gentlemen

Description for REBELS AND GENTLEMEN: PHILADELPHIA IN THE AGE OF FRANKLIN by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh: Carl Bridenbaugh's history of the cultural conditions of Philadelphia and surroundings from 1740 to 1775 is divided into ten chapters. It was a happy thought to undertake the description of the cultural preparation for the Revolution in the City of Brotherly Love which prided itself as a "second London" in America. The authors divided the subject into three main parts: literature, art, and science. At firs the reader may be surprised that the most notable figure in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin, is mentioned so little, although owing to his prominence the French call that period "l'Age d'Or de Pennsylvanie" and his name appears on the title of the book. In the last chapter the authors give an explanation for this apparent omission with these words: "Franklin had lived in Philadelphia for only fifteen of the thirty-five years chronicled in these pages." Bridenbaugh (1903 - 1