Belknap Press

The Quotable Abigail Adams

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:01:00 +0000

In an age of constant and instant communications, we have to sadly admit that letters are becoming a lost art. Gone are the times when lovers exhausted themselves writing page after page to send slowly across the sea, replaced with 140 character tweets or an iPhone vibrating with a picture message. While it’s ignorant to wish we could return to a previous era of correspondence, beautiful letters can still be read, appreciated, and celebrated for their historical and literary importance through collections like The Quotable Abigail Adams.

Edited by John Kaminski, the director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin Madison, The Quotable Abigail Adams gives a glimpse into the life and letters of the amazing woman who counseled and consoled one of the most influential men in the birth of the United States. With quotes gleaned entirely from the letters Adams used to keep vital contact with her husband, children, and closest friends, Kaminski shows us the complexities and wisdom that make her an invaluable female role model from a male-dominated period of history. The book’s short biography and quotes depict a woman who is at once lacking confidence in her informal education yet one of the President’s most valued advisers; self-identified as more adapted to small, simple pleasures but an adept and experienced in foreign affairs; a mother and wife who gains strength from her family yet is able to endure years of their absence.

Any reader will be able to find quotes that speak to them as well as quotes that raise an eyebrow. Many of her words transcend time and geography, and are astutely applicable in today’s world. In a letter to her uncle, Cotton Tufts, she writes “It is high time that we had a Government who knows how to conduct our affairs with steadiness, judgment, & equity that they may not make themselves contemptible in the Eyes of all Europe.” Writing to John Adams on sexism, she chastises, “I cannot say that I think you very generous to the Ladies, for whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to Men, Emancipating all Nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over Wives.” Adams intelligence shines as she quotes Alexander Pope, Thomas Paine, and Michel de Montaigne, blended with her own observations on topics ranging from bachelors to the French Revolution.

While the art of writing letters may no longer be practiced in any substantial capacity, The Quotable Abigail Adams is a time capsule in which we can escape the LOLs, SMS, and IMs of our current existence and revel in the wisdom of an icon of American history for whom words and letters were like “cold water to a thirsty soul.”

Written by: Melissa Ablett, January 29th 2010

Cleopatra and Rome

admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:40:00 +0000

By Diana E. E. Kleiner

Belknap Press

If you have a hankering to return to Art of the Ancient World 101, Diana Kleiner’s Cleopatra and Rome should more than satisfy your urge to crack open a textbook. If you’re looking for a thrilling window into the life of a pair of the world’s most infamous lovers, this may not be your best bet.

Traveling throughout Egypt in June inspired me to dive into this book to refresh myself on the nation’s history. Filled with visions of sunset sailing in Luxor, I hoped Cleopatra and Rome would take me back to a sailboat where the love between Marc Antony and Cleopatra blossomed. Instead I trudged my way through Kleiner's strong introduction to Roman and Egyptian art.

Much of the historical background reads like a monotonous section of the Bible where you have at least two full pages dedicated to: blah beget bleh who beget blech and so on and so forth. Lacking completely in the romanticism, and even possible intrigue, involved in the intermingling of the Roman and Egyptian empires through her affairs with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Cleopatra serves as a coincidental bridge between two cultures.

At first there is little artistic analysis; some is architectural, but even that is limited in comparison to the droning historical description. The photos have no cohesion with the written word—similar themes, but they feel disconnected because they’re not tied together on the page. About a hundred pages in, the reader starts to get more in-depth descriptions of the art and surface connections, but the author quickly settles into a much more balanced rhythm. The stronger integration in the later parts of the book really made all the difference for me. Though I understand the need to lay the historical foundation before diving into an integrated analysis, it felt too structured for my liking.

Perhaps it was simply because I was expecting fireworks and got sparklers instead, but the rich stories of Cleopatra and her empire failed to come across here. Expectations aside, the book sheds much light on the art of Egypt; it's just that some may prefer to read the Cliff’s Notes version.

Written by: Nicole Levitz, September 5th 2009

First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War

admin — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:57:00 +0000

By Joan E. Cashin

Belknap Press

Before reading First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War, I didn’t even know to whom Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America from 1861-1865, was married. The book is certainly educational, and was interesting to read about the war from a Southern perspective rather than the Union point of view I received in my U.S. history courses.

Most readers of this lengthy biography on Varina Howell Davis will come away with the impression that her husband was a jerk, although she seems to have loved him nonetheless. He was quick-tempered and held too many grudges, and sadly these same faults were apparent in his second marriage. His first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of President Zachary Taylor, died from malaria shortly after marrying Jefferson. He and Varina wed ten years later, in 1845. In some ways Varina Davis was ahead of her time: she was better-educated and better-read than most women in the American South. Combined with her lukewarm support of secession from the United States and of the Confederacy as a nation, her educated demeanor did not endear her to many Southerners. Although Davis was against the war, she supported the institution of slavery. Cashin substantiates this claim with extensive documentation from Davis' private letters, which she compares Davis’ somewhat more confident public statements in support of the 'new nation'.

Cashin does an excellent job of showing Davis had considerable ties to the Northern states. She had many relatives and friends there that she made during her time at a finishing school in Philadelphia and when her husband served in the U.S. Senate and they lived in Washington, DC. Whatever her reasons, she never fully supported the Confederate cause, and continued correspondence with friends in the Union states during the war, which was illegal under Confederate law.

The most interesting aspect of the book is its description of Varina’s life after her husband’s death in 1889. Finally free to do as she pleased, she moved to New York City, where she remained for the rest of her life (she died in 1906), despite the protestations of groups, such as the Daughters of the Confederacy, and Southerners in general. She supported herself through occasional columns for newspapers and formed an unexpected friendship with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant, who headed the Union army to which the Confederate army surrendered at the war’s end.

The book’s main drawback is its dry, academic tone and repetition of key facts, particularly Davis’s wavering support of the Confederacy and the fact that Jefferson’s professed love for her became more word than deed during the post-war years of their relationship. The book weighs in at 416 pages, with over 311 pages of biography and 105 of meticulous notes. Recommend primarily to hard-core Civil War junkies, the book demonstrates that Varina Howell Davis’ life was constricted not only by her spouse’s politics, but also by the mores of the time.

Written by: Karen Duda, May 26th 2009