Benjamin
Thompson, Count Rumford, was--as Nicholas Delbanco writes--"world
famous in his lifetime," yet now he has been "almost wholly forgotten."
Like Delbanco himself, Sally Ormsby Thompson Robinson--the narrator of
this novel and the Count's fictional, last-surviving relative--is
"haunted" by one of history's most fascinating and remarkable figures.
On par with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Count Rumford was,
among many other things, a politician, a spy, a philanthropist, and
above all, a scientist. Based on countless historical documents,
including letters and essays by Thompson himself. The Count of Concord
brings to life the remarkable career of Benjamin Thompson, Count
Rumford.