Abigail Adams: A Writing Life

by Edith B. Gelles

Overview

In this book, Edith B. Gelles asserts that Abigail Adams' vivid, insightful letters are "the best account that exists from the pre to the post-Revolutionary period in America of a woman's life and world." Adams'spontaneous, witty letters serve dual purposes for the modern reader: it provides an intriguing first hand account of pivotal historical events and it shows how these events from the Boston Tea Party to the War of 1812 entered the private sphere. Included in the book is a chronology, notes and reference section and a selected bibliography. This book will be a must for all scholars of American literature, history and politics seeking to understand this literary figure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138440050
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/11/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edith B. Gelles is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford University and the author of Portia: The World of Abigail Adams, winner of the American Historical Association's Herbert Feis Award.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Chronology The Eighteenth-Century Letter 1. Introduction: Letters as Literature 2. Remember the Ladies The Confidential Letter 3. Bonds of Friendship: The Correspondence of Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren The Travel Letter 4. The Voyage 5. In the Midst of the World in Solitude 6. At the Court of St. James Interlude The Historic Letter 7. Splendid Misery: Abigail Adams as First Lady 8. End of the Story Notes and References Selected Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"All this Edith Gelles relates with clarity and warmth...this is a perceptive study and a lively incentive to read the correspondence itself." — Economist
"Edith Gelles's newly published biography and critique...offers an excellent entry point for anyone whi is interested in Abigail Adams as a writer." —   Biography Spring 2003

From the Publisher

Gelles, a senior scholar at the Institute for Research on Women & Gender, Stanford Univ., and author of Portia: The World of Abigail Adams, provides a literary-biographical analysis of Adams's letters. She shows that Adams began as a relatively traditional wife, though one in a marriage based on choice and mutual friendship, but was then transformed into a farm and investment manager for her family, hostess for her ambassador husband, and confidante and adviser when he became the second President of the United States. Adams uses her considerable literary talent in voluminous correspondence, reminding her husband of women's legal needs, seeking out Mercy Otis Warren as a mentor until there was no longer any need for mentoring, and coping gracefully with the isolation imposed by sea travel and by living in France and England. Highly recommended for historians, literary critics, feminists, and general readers and for both general and special collections. Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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