My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams Book

Politics, history, loss, adventure, love, and the great lost art of truly beautiful letter-writing are all in this collection of letters between Abigail and John Adams. I would not have been a good wife for John Adams, but I don't know anyone who wouldn't enjoy a letter containing some of John's beautiful statements like, "I am as impatient to see you as I used to be twenty year ago." (p. 337)

I expected to enjoy these letters as an interesting bit of history -- and there is some fascinating history in these letters, including John's seemingly endless snarkiness about Thomas Jefferson. But what really struck me about these letters is the incredibly personal nature of these letters, and how difficult it must have been to participate in a marriage that meant months, if not years, apart, with no way to communicate other than the unreliable mail service. In one particularly touching letter, Abigail writes to John that their daughter has been stillborn -- it's hard not to imagine her grief in sitting to write that letter, or his grief in reading her letter and hearing about the loss of his daughter.

The editors of this collection do a great job of briefly setting the scene (explaining necessary details like names or chronology), then getting out of the way and letting the letters speak for themselves. One thing that takes some getting used to is remembering that it might take weeks if not months for the letters to make it back and forth -- the letters are presented chronologically as they are written, which might mean several letters in a row that do not have replies. Included in the collection is a very helpful chronology at the back of the book (just in case you don't remember every lesson from your American history classes) and a beautiful epilogue in which John Quincy Adams writes to his father after hearing of Abigail's death. John Adams writes back to his son, "Love to your Wife. May you never experience her Loss."

Sigh...I can't help but mourn the loss of men who can actually write. Text messages just don't cut it, boys.