Customer Reviews

Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage

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This book has it all-- history, biography, politics, larger than life characters and a great love story and, to top it all off, it is a pleasure to read. Gelles tells the story of John and Abigail Adams's 54-year-long marriage against the backdrop of the American Revolution, the founding of the republic, and its first tumultuous years.
In this engaging and often moving book, Abigail and John Adams step off their pedestals and become warm, breathing, feeling people that we care about. The book chronicles their lives from their courtship through the long years of their marriage and its many separations, sacrifices, trials and triumphs until John Adams' final years as a widower. Theirs was a partnership based on mutual respect and regard, love, sympathy, forbearance, ambition and intellect.
I came to the end of this book feeling grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Adams for leaving us the legacy of their letters to each other and for Edith Gelles who has brought her deep knowledge of the period to weave them together into this inspiring story.

It is not that the prodigiously gifted Edith Gelles brings anything new to the John-and-Abigail story or to the episodes of post-Revolutionary America of which they were part. Instead -- more than any previous work by a noted historian -- except, perhaps for Phyllis Levin -- Gelles emphasizes in in an unambiguous way the critical role Abigail Adams played in the early life of the Republic.

Even as she reiterates the awful political impact of Adams'Alien and Sedition Acts, it is Abigail's staunch adherence to the underlying morality and strategic value of the acts, in the context of the age, which vindicates their passage. A woman of fierce intelligence and unbridled humor, her breathless engagement in every facet of the Revolution and its aftermath is the stuff of great history.

While some read history to catalog facts, I read it for Story. Gelle's story is riveting and her storytelling gifts -- of economy and language -- make this an irresistible read. Some will argue about Gelles'specific theoretical statements or peripheral details of events within and beyond the Adams family, but I don't have time for that minutiae. Academic history aside (and history is often a pure construct) Gelles' book is also a superb family chronicle, unparalleled by any I've read over the past five years.

As someone who was once an academic, I've noted two types of history books in recent years: those to be shelved and those to be read. The shelved volumes have gazette value and are often doorstops consisting of 50% text and 50% source-notes. Gelles'intends her well-documented book to be read and read again,and her language is so accessible the work is suitable for intelligent readers of all ages.

As for Abigail, whose reputation and importance have survived the ages, Gelles resurrects her thoughts, actions and spirit with such verve, the book is an indispensable read for most gender-neutral fans of the American Revolution

Expecting to read a biography/textbook, I was pleasantly surprised that Abigail and John felt more like that great novel one can't wait to come home from work to resume reading.I found myself feeling upset at their hardships of family crisis and years of separation. I hoped that their marriage would survive the long years apart from each other, that John and Thomas Jefferson could resolve their differences, that their daughter would survive breast cancer.I enjoyed entering into the world of Abigail and John in New England and Europe during the time of "The Founding Fathers" - and MOTHERS. This is a book about marriage, love, and friendship.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in spirituality, love, survival or history. Expect a well researched, factual biography written in a heartfelt manner.

As a native Bostonian, most of what I was taught about John and Abigail Adams had the aura of local myths. Edith Gelles' new book and her brilliant use of their 54 years of letter-writing illuminates them in an entirely new way. What emerges from her portrait is not simply an account of a dedicated founding father and his supportive spouse (although they indeed had those qualities) but rather the humane complexity of these two characters: Abigail's use of her husband's library to teach herself the literature of the Western World, her unconscious (but always apt) use of her New England religious teachings, and her unwavering love of her children, her family farm, and the new nation. And John, despite both his obduracy and vanity, his vision of what his new nation ought to be and might become, and his unremitting, life-long labors on its behalf. The clarity of the thinking of both partners is unmistakable in these pages. Furthermore, it is so clear from their correspondence that this couple really liked each other and valued each other's views as equal to their own. At the end of this book, one has the sense that both they and the nation were forever fortunate to have found and nourished each other.

The new Gelles biography of Abigail and John Adams is the first to offer a joint picture of their life as a couple. We come to understand the strength of their bonds with one another and the personal sacrifices they were willing to make for the good of their fledgling nation. While John speaks his mind and pens his thoughts for public consumption, Abigail stays at home to run the Massachusetts farm; she gives birth without her mate at her side, and engages in the myriad tasks that fell to women. She comes across as spunky and resourceful, while he plays the heavy, but for all their differences from one another, their love is a model of affection and trust. It's good to know that such marriages can exist. Gelles gives us a lively biography that will enrich the library of anyone interested in American history.
By Marilyn and Irvin Yalom

I've read several biographies on Abigail Adams. This seems to be the most complete and honestly understanding about her personality and quirks. Seeing her actions in light of her circumstances and husband puts new light to understanding her personality. I really enjoyed reading through this book and would recommend it to anyone interesting in read about either parts of this historic couple.

I sat down to read Abigail and John, not realizing that this is an exceptional, intelligent, analytical and personal vision into the thoughts and feelings of two illustrious, courageous people who not only contributed to America's early development, but were exceptionally devoted to one another. Their undending affection glows through the ordeals they lived through- their long separations, the emotional upheavals, and the major decisions each was forced to make while their beloved was separated by distance and time. The mutual respect and admiration they held for one another is fitting tribute to Abigail and John. Ms. Gelles has presented a fabulously rich portrait of the intimacy that existed between John and Abigail never written before.

I haven't read the other reviews, but all I can say is "Fabulous." I was reading a review of another biography of this couple and was referred to Edith Gelles' book. I bought it and have really loved it. The writing is clear and compelling. Just a pleasure to read. I'm not a history expert, but this book feels like a very balanced, and at the same time, sympathetic portrait of Abigail and John. The sacrifices they made out of their Puritan sense of duty were enormous. And even though one didn't divorce in those times, the fact that their marriage lasted and blossomed, despite agonizing long periods of pain, particularly for Abigail, is almost beyond belief. Or maybe I should say, it shows the power of belief. What a love story! Thank you Edith Gelles!

This is a wonderful book about two extraordinary people, very much aware of the history they were a part of during their life time. The writer articulates the life of this special couple to whom we owe a great deal in preserving their dream of independence.

For years, I've heard people talk about the letters exchanged between John and Abigail and their level of intimacy. I finally took time to investigate and read. This book is quite and lengthy experience. We learn of the early days and their family background. We follow them through courtship and marriage. Over the years, we see the personal details of their lives laid before us, in spite of their often referenced desire to have their letters destroyed, neither one did it.

We can see their joys and frustrations in personal life. I never thought our founding fathers struggled with money, but they did.

Because we're following their letters, some pieces of history I would have liked to learn weren't included except as side notes. In particular, I had wanted to learn of their experiences as the first couple in the white house, but that only occupied the space of a paragraph.

I appreciated seeing how they willingly put up with each others failings and stuck it out and in the end appreciated the journey. Good to know. Abigail certainly lived a stronger life than most people assume women of her time could. She had strong opinions and creatively used them to make a difference.

To those who enjoy history and harbor any curiousity about this couple, I recommend it whole heartedly.