Mark Abbott Stern is a retired engineer and amateur historian. He has devoted the past eleven years to studying the life of David Franks.

“Mark Abbott Stern’s well-written and extremely well-researched biography of Philadelphia merchant David Franks (1720–1793) ranks among the best works on early American Jews. It is also the finest study I know that clarifies the complicated story of army contracting during the French and Indian War and the bureaucratic intricacies of caring for prisoners of war during the American Revolution.”—William A. Pencak, The Pennsylvania State University

• ContentsForeword by William PencakPreface and Acknowledgments Introduction 1.David Franks, Arrested for Treason2.Family, Friends, and Associates3.Indian Affairs, Family Growth, and Supplying the Army 4.Commercial Adventures 5.Plumsted and Franks, Agents for the Contractors6.General Jeffrey Amherst and Colonel Henry Bouquet7.Major General Thomas Gage8.Franks, Inglis and Barkly, Agents for the Contractors9.Levy and Franks and Land Speculation Companies 10.A Time of Transition 11.Working Both Sides of the Street12.War and Financial Turmoil in Philadelphia 13.The Revenge of the Radicals 14.A Time of Trials 15.Exiles 16.The Final ChapterAppendix ALetters to the Editor Appendix BQuestions of Death and Burial Appendix C“Dear Mrs. Cad”: A Revolutionary War Letter of Rebecca FranksNotesBibliographyIndex