Customer Reviews

A Book of Condolences: Classic Letters of Bereavement

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A Book of Condolences is both useful and thought provoking. It contains letters of condolence from famous people through history to either other famous people, or to just folks (Lincoln's letters to the mothers of the war dead for example).
It is useful in that we have lost this sincere art, and having beautiful and well written letters to steal material from when we feel most at a loss for words is a relief! It is thought provoking in that by reading the book from beginning to end, you can see the evolution of people's thoughts and feelings about death from Roman times to the beginning of the 20th century.
Most awe inspiring are the letters from the Founding Fathers to their loved ones expressing sympathy for their losses. Read Washington's letter to his wife on the death of her sister to see how intelligent, caring, and full of FEELING the people who created this country could be. (Not to deny that they were confused and wrong about slavery -- just that where they weren't confused, they were brilliant).