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ChristysBookBlog
Posted January 2, 2011
Insightful look at historic couple through their letters
The First Family by Joseph J. Ellis is a insightful look at the John Adams family through their letters. John and Abigail have long been looked at as the premier couple of the American Revolution, and they left behind over 1200 letters of their correspondence opening up their relationship to study in a unique way. Ellis uses their letters to each other, their children, and friends to recreate their lives and give them their rightful place in history. John's image suffered in the years after the Revolution and during his presidency as he gained a reputation for vanity and a volcanic temper, and while Ellis acknowledges there is some truth to it, much of it was slander created by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to push forward their own political agendas. Both John and Abigail were fully aware that they were creating a political dynasty and often pushed son John Quincy to live up to their expectations, and their letters were often written to that effect. Ellis really helps bring this historic couple to life, from their flirtatious, almost naughty letters during courtship to Abigail's deep depression during John's years in France that kept them apart for five years to his term in the White House when she became too ill with rheumatoid arthritis to be with him. Ellis realistically creates a historic love story. John and Abigail balanced each other's flaws and while apart were each at their worst. When John was attacked during his presidency, he had no stronger ally than Abigail who said, "when he is wounded, I bleed." Ellis uses the analogy of a dancer alone on the floor, without a partner twice in the course of the book, first to describe Abigail when John is in Europe, and then again when she has passed away and John is alone, and the metaphor is a perfect one for this rare and wonderful couple.
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