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For more than one-fifth of his life, Benjamin Franklin lived in London. He dined with prime ministers, members of parliament, even kings, as well as with Britain's most esteemed intellectuals - including David Hume, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus Darwin - and with more notorious individuals, such as Francis Dashwood and James Boswell. Having spent eighteen formative months in England as a young man, Franklin returned in 1757 as a colonial representative during the Seven Years' War, and left abruptly just prior to the outbreak of America's War of Independence, barely escaping his impending arrest. In this fascinating history, George Goodwin gives a colorful account of Franklin's British years. The author offers a rich and revealing portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in U.