My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
by Abigail Adams, John Adams
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Book Summary Information
Author: Abigail Adams, John AdamsEditor: Margaret A. Hogan
Editor: C. James Taylor
Foreword: Joseph J. Ellis
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-31
ISBN: 0674026063
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Book Reviews of My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
Book Review: Two Patriots, Only One Vote
Summary: 5 Stars
** page 186 - "About an hour ago I received a Letter from you beginning in this manner - 'My Dearest Friend'. That one single expression dwelt upon my mind and playd about my Heart.." (Abigail Adams)***
The union between Abigail and John Adams was one that all marriages are meant to accomplish, yet very few actually do. They were matched; as Life's partners, lovers, friends and equals in all areas of importance, including the politics of the day, politics and movements so immense that it was a miracle their marriage could survive it at all, much less thrive on the danger and anxiety inherent with their time. Abigail was of an intelligence par with her husband, they could converse with each other - no doubt that was the unshakable bond beyond all else between them; and these wonderful historical documents are proof without doubt of what happened in the turbulent times before, during and after the Revolution. Their pen was a weapon against adversity, a way of finding comfort and support in any situation.
Abigail, in my view, must be considered one of the first women (along with Mercy Otis) with enough courage to speak up about women's rights, and she had the right partner to speak up to because he chose to listen carefully if not entirely - the times not being ripe as yet for such a radical idea. John Adams brushed some of it off tongue-in-cheek as he responded to her statements about education and other essential human rights for women, but it is clear that he valued her opinions and could not deny the truth behind her thoughts. She could not vote, and I imagine such a forbearance rankled in the psyche of such a remarkable woman. and he probably, at one time or another thought: "Rats. One more vote might have done it for me."
They were there for each other, if only by letters for most of the time during the early years when the important work of the Revolution must take preference over the home ground for John; when Abigail's duty, as she saw it, was to keep the home front in an even condition because that was the job description the Revolution assigned to her. Staunch patriots both, there was little whining on either side, yearning and loneliness was the only emotion divulged in their long-distance love and life affair, and it was also plain that they knew their letters would one day become part of the historical record that John once asked Thomas Jefferson: "Who will write of it? Who can write of it?" Perhaps some of the critical elements of it will never be known, but it would seem that these three made a very good accounting of it as amateur historians.
All one has to do to stop complaining about the trials of their own present-day lives, is stop and read of the hardships thrust upon people by something being done for posterity, and the unselfish grit they demonstrated. Thinking of my own children as Abigail, in an incredible leap of faith, took all of hers to have them vaccinated for smallpox when the new vaccine might well have killed them too. When thinking of the choice she had to make in something as simple as what we take for granted now - vaccine against dread disease for loved ones - it is easy to see the sacrifices these people of the forefathers made for the rest of us. They wanted a new beginnings for a new nation, a fairer government, and they were willing to die to make it a reality for posterity. All of this was apparent in their letters to one another.
For people with an interest in the American Revolution, and the actual accountings of the people living it at the time, this book, along with "The Adams-Jefferson Letters" is priceless reading.
Other highly recommended American Revolution reading:
** "Miracle at Philadelphia" by Catherine Drinker Bowen
** "Three men of Boston" by John r. galvin
** "Jefferson" by Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)
** "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer
** "American Colonies" by Alan Taylor
** "The First American" (Franklin) by H.W. Brands (Library of America)
** "1776" by David McCullough
** "John Adams" by David McCullough
** "Orators of the American Revolution" by Elias Lyman Magoon
** American Speeches" Political Oratory (Library of America) Nothing boring between these pages - the bravest and brightest intellects of our nation were available and hard at work speaking the minds of the rest of us - so that we might understand ourselves.
Summary of My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
Listen to a ten-minute interview with Margaret Hogan
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane
Read Margaret Hogan's HUP blog posting: "The Romance of John and Abigail Adams"
Watch the video of The Massachusetts Historical Society's November 2007 event at which Deval and Diane Patrick, Edward and Victoria Kennedy, and Michael and Kitty Dukakis read selected letters from My Dearest Friend
Visit the Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive
Watch the March 2008 HBO miniseries--"John Adams"--based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography
In 1762, John Adams penned a flirtatious note to "Miss Adorable," the 17-year-old Abigail Smith. In 1801, Abigail wrote to wish her husband John a safe journey as he headed home to Quincy after serving as president of the nation he helped create. The letters that span these nearly forty years form the most significant correspondence--and reveal one of the most intriguing and inspiring partnerships--in American history.
As a pivotal player in the American Revolution and the early republic, John had a front-row seat at critical moments in the creation of the United States, from the drafting of the Declaration of Independence to negotiating peace with Great Britain to serving as the first vice president and second president under the U.S. Constitution. Separated more often than they were together during this founding era, John and Abigail shared their lives through letters that each addressed to "My Dearest Friend," debating ideas and commenting on current events while attending to the concerns of raising their children (including a future president).
Full of keen observations and articulate commentary on world events, these letters are also remarkably intimate. This new collection--including some letters never before published--invites readers to experience the founding of a nation and the partnership of two strong individuals, in their own words. This is history at its most authentic and most engaging.
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