Audiobook7 hours
Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, Vol. 1
Written by Abigail Adams
Narrated by LibriVox Community
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Abigail Adams lived the American Revolution as the wife of one of its central figures--John Adams. Her family correspondence, published along with a memoir by her grandson, Charles Francis Adams, brings that era into eloquent focus. What was it like to hear the cannon's roar from your window? to face pestilence? food shortages? rampant inflation? devalued coinage? to raise four children alone--and earn the money to keep your household afloat, while your husband was engaged in politics and diplomacy miles and oceans away . . . for years at a time? It's all there in her private letters, letters that were never meant for public eyes, letters that she repeatedly asked to be burned!Writing to her husband, Abigail expressed anguish at nearby fighting: June 18, 1775, "Charlestown is laid in ashes . . . How many have fallen we know not. The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing, that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep." Yet, she displayed constant fortitude: August 5, 1777, "It is almost thirteen years since we were united, but not more than half that time have we had the happiness of living together. The unfeeling world may consider it in what light they please. I consider it as a sacrifice to my country . . ." And she enlivened her writing with pithy accounts of Revolutionary doings: July 31, 1777, "You must know that there is a great scarcity of sugar and coffee . . . An eminent, wealthy, stingy merchant had a hogshead of coffee in his store, which he refused to sell . . . under six shillings per pound. A number of females . . . assembled with a cart and trucks, marched down to the warehouse, and demanded the keys, which he refused to deliver. Upon which, one of them seized him by his neck . . ." The women "then opened the warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into the truck and drove off. . . .A large concourse of men stood amazed, silent spectators of the whole transaction."Abigail’s letters, letters of "a vigorous mind," are a fascinating read. (Introduction by Sue Anderson)
Related to Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, Vol. 1
Related audiobooks
Civil War Wives: The Lives & Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis & Julia Dent Grant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman in the Nineteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Excellency: George Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Theodore Roosevelt: The American Presidents Series: The 26th President, 1901-1909 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hero Tales: How Common Lives Reveal the Heroic Spirit of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Hannibal: The Extraordinary Account of Revolutionary Hero Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democracy in America Vol. I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abigail Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Martha Washington: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ladies of Liberty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of My Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Victoria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJefferson's Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Washington: A Life in Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Light-Horse Harry Lee and Robert E. Lee: The Lives and Military Careers of the Revolutionary War Hero and His More Famous Son Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMad Anthony Wayne: The Life and Legacy of the Famous Revolutionary War General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World of Plymouth Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650: Unabridged Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Young Trailers: A Story of Early Kentucky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paul Revere's Ride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Elizabeth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jefferson's America: The President, the Purchase, and the Explorers Who Transformed a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Quincy Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Biography & Memoir For You
Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Child Called It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies Between Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, Vol. 1
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The actual book I suspect is of superior writing, knowing the depth of conversations between our Second President and eventual first Lady . Unfortunately the Libravox recording lacks conviction and depth of feeling as do most.