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

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.

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