Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age of Franklin by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 1962. Hesperides.

Although it is not the intention of the Bridenbaughs to "rescue Philadelphia from Benjamin Franklin," it is certainly true that the importance of the city of Philadelphia to colonial and revolutionary America has been dwarfed by the image of its favorite son, Franklin. The authors, therefore, have undertaken to study the city itself as it has long deserved to be studied. Philadelphia was one of the largest cities of the British Empire, as the primary unit of reception and distribution of the 18th century wave of European culture, and as the first and most outstanding example in the Western World of a true democracy.