First Family; Abigail and John
New York, N.Y. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. x, 299, [5] pages. Includes Preface, Acknowledgments, Notes, and Index. Includes seven chapters each addressing a sequential chronological period. Joseph John Ellis (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the founders of the United States of America. He entered the United States Army in August 1969 and spent three years teaching history at the United States Military Academy at West Point before being discharged a captain in 1972. Ellis later joined the faculty at Mount Holyoke College. In 1979 he was made full professor and later became the Ford Foundation Professor of History. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson won a National Book Award and Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for History. Both these books were bestsellers. Together with histories of the founding of the republic, since 1993 Ellis has written biographies about individual early presidents and, in 2010, a joint biography of John and Abigail Adams. Interested in how men shaped and were shaped by their times, he writes with an emphasis on character. Ellis is notable as a respected scholar whose work has also gained popular success. In 2004, the critic Jonathan Yardley wrote of him: "Ellis doubtless is now the most widely read scholar of the Revolutionary period, and thus probably the most influential as well." The Adamses were prolific letter writers, and over the years they exchanged more than twelve hundred letters. After their first meeting, when John was 24, and Abigail just 15, each was entirely unimpressed with the other. But they soon began a passionate correspondence that resulted in their marriage five years later. Over the next decades, the couple were separated nearly as much as they were together. The years apart stressed their union almost beyond they could bear. Abigail grew lonely, and their children suffered from their father's absence. John was elected the nation's first vice president, but by the time of his reelection, Abigail's health prevented her from joining him in Philadelphia, the interim capital.
Derived from a Kirkus review: The Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning author presents a vivid and insightful portrait of John and Abigail Adams. A telling aspect of John’s nature was his confidence in the fact that his life story would be an important part of the political history of the American Revolution. Because of this prescience, he and Abigail preserved a massive number of documents, including their own personal correspondence. Ellis makes good use of this archive, reconstructing a detailed chronology of the Adams marriage. From the beginning, Abigail was an intelligent and loyal partner, privy to every aspect of John's involvement in the nascent Revolution; the author describes Abigail as a vital “ballast” to John's excitability and mood swings. As his place in the new government strengthened, John was often called away from their Massachusetts home, a circumstance that brought much sadness to the couple but provides historians with intimate letters that the two sent each other throughout each separation. In these, John and Abigail discuss everything from domestic issues to politics to their relationship, displaying the unusually egalitarian and loving partnership they shared. John adored Abigail’s confidence and intellect, and Abigail was proud to support and advise her famous husband as he navigated his remarkably productive political career. This special connection lasted for more than 50 years and survived a litany of domestic hardships amid the political successes. Ellis writes, “Abigail and John remained resolute, infinitely resilient, the invulnerable center that would always hold.” The author’s beautiful writing draws the reader wholly into this relationship, bringing new perspective to the historical importance of this enduring love story. An impeccable account of the politics, civics and devotion behind the Adams marriage. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: John Adams, Abigail Adams, Presidents, First Ladies, John Quincy Adams, Continental Congress, American Revolution, Founding Fathers
ISBN: 9780307269621
[Book #80552]
Price: $40.00