Rating: 
Summary: Letters worthy of their Authors
Review: There is no substitute for the real thing... As successful as McCullough, Ellis, Wood, or any author may be at recreating and judging their lives and times, you cannot know them better than by reading their words. While I don't recommend this as an introduction of any of the three characters (Feminists be warned! Abigail is barely a feminist and gets short treatment since she wrote far fewer letters to Jefferson than John), it offers a leap in understanding for anyone who has a rudimentary background in the period.
Rating:
Summary: The Adams Jefferson Letters
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have been looking for it for a few years, and finally decided to try the internet and voila! It gives what I believe is a true feeling for what "things" were really like back then: ie Abigail and John were really close and she helped him more than is usually told in the history books. I believe after reading this book that she was truely "the woman behind the man" and that they were a team.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent memoir of the founding fathers
Review: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, friends-foes and back to being friends in the later part of their interesting lives wrote a series of letters to each other from Monticello, VA to Quincy, MA and vice versa during the later years of their lives. These two outstanding and influential men of history were so instrumental in the founding of the United States that their thoughts, beliefs and insights are invaluable to historians.These two men started off as friends during the climatic years of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, that unfortunately later on during the infant years of the United States they found themselves at odds with each other due to political beliefs and ideas that turned into personal attacks. Adams was more of a politcal conservative who believed in the gentry and status quo of the class system, while Jefferson was more liberal in his beliefs of personal freedom and thought. This lead to many years of "back-stabbing", quarrels over issues great and small, and bitter feelings. Thank goodness, these two men put aside their differences of their younger years, and developed their friendship annew, with wisdom and gentility. Their insights on how the younger generation of Americans is interesting, their continued hope for the future of the United States is promising, even today, and their genuine affection for each other is heart warming. Adams and Jefferson even realized that they shared alot of the same ideas and beliefs in their later years, and it is good to hear this. John Adams last words before he died on July 4th, 1826 (the same day that Jefferson died) was "Jefferson Lives"! Well Thomas Jefferson certainly does live as well as John Adams, in their beliefs and hopes for the great country of the United States, and their inspiration and intelligence is what every American young and old, great and small should strive for. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Two of Americas greatest minds in their own words
Review: What a joy it is to read the correspondence between two of America's greatest founding fathers. Through this collection of letters we begin to get into the minds of men who created and shaped this nation. We read of their dreams, expectations and fears for this new nation as well as typical correspondence between friends. That is when they were talking to each other. When the two men weren't, Abigail continued to write Jefferson to try and heal the breach. My favorite letter is from John Adams to Jefferson to tell him to stop writing his wife. This is a book for anyone who loves the human side of history and enjoys getting to know the real people behind the legends. I first read it in college, and then spent ten years trying to find it again. Now that I have, it will never leave my bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: All passion spent, but wisdom remains...
Review: When Jefferson and the Adamses retired from public life, the result was the basis for this wonderful little book. Lester Cappon has produced one of the gems of scholarship on the autumn relationship of Adams and Jefferson. Perhaps the greatest testament to the scholarship and skill of the editor is the fact that this book has remained in print continuously since 1959. Though unlikely ever to score the impressive sales record of the recent biography of John Adams, this work is for those interested readers who want to learn more about the early days of the republic. One warning, the participants were all products of the 18th century. One should not be misled by the formality of the prose (any more than one should be misled by the gushy emotionalism of the victorian era). Adams reveals himself (this was his justification for his life and beliefs) in a straight forward manner. Jefferson, tells us more about himself by his personality by his lack of candor.
Rating:
Summary: All passion spent, but wisdom remains...
Review: When Jefferson and the Adamses retired from public life, the result was the basis for this wonderful little book. Lester Cappon has produced one of the gems of scholarship on the autumn relationship of Adams and Jefferson. Perhaps the greatest testament to the scholarship and skill of the editor is the fact that this book has remained in print continuously since 1959. Though unlikely ever to score the impressive sales record of the recent biography of John Adams, this work is for those interested readers who want to learn more about the early days of the republic. One warning, the participants were all products of the 18th century. One should not be misled by the formality of the prose (any more than one should be misled by the gushy emotionalism of the victorian era). Adams reveals himself (this was his justification for his life and beliefs) in a straight forward manner. Jefferson, tells us more about himself by his personality by his lack of candor.
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