Abigail and John (Gelles)

Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage
Edith B. Gelles, 2009
HarperCollins
338 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061354120


Summary
The story of Abigail and John Adams is as much a romance as it is a lively chapter in the early history of this country.

The marriage of the second president and first lady is one of the most extraordinary examples of passion and endurance that this country has ever witnessed. And it is a drama peopled with a pantheon of eighteenth-century stars: George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, his daughter Patsy, Ben Franklin, and Mercy Otis Warren.

Abigail and John were a uniquely compatible duo, and in their remarkable union we can see the strength of a people determined to achieve full independence in the face of daunting odds. Yet while much has been written about each as an individual, Abigail and John provides, for the first time, the captivating story of their dedication and sacrifice that helped usher in the founding of our country, a time that fascinates us still.

Married in 1764 by Abigail's reverend father, the young couple worked side by side for a decade, raising a family while John's status as one of the most prosperous, respected lawyers in Massachusetts grew. As his duties within the new republic expanded, the Adamses endured a long period of sporadic separations. But their loyalty and love kept their bond firm across the distance, as is evident in their tender letters. It's in this correspondence that Abigail comes into her own as a woman of politics, offering words of advice and encouragement to a husband whose absences were crucial to the independence they both cherished. And it's also in these exchanges that they worked through the familial tragedies that tested them: the death of their son Charles from alcoholism and the impoverishment and early death of their daughter Nabby.

Through its fifty-four years, the union of John and Abigail Adams was based on mutual respect and ambition, intellect and equality, that went far beyond the conventional bond. Abigail and John is an inspirational portrait of a couple who endured the turmoil and trials of a revolution, and in so doing paved the way for the birth of a nation. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
Edith B. Gelles, Ph.D., holds degrees from Cornell, Yale, and the University of California-Irvine. She has taught at several universities and is a Senior Scholar at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research. She lives in Palo Alto, California (From the publisher.)

More
Edith B. Gelles is the author of Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage, published in 2009 by HarperCollins. She recently edited and wrote an extended biographical introduction to The Letters of Abigail Levy Franks (1733-1748), published by Yale University Press in 2004.

A historian of colonial America, Gelles has written two biographies of Abigail Adams. Portia: The World of Abigail Adams (1992), which was co-winner of the American Historical Association's Herbert Feis Award. First Thoughts: Life and Letters of Abigail Adams (1998) was published in paperback by Routledge with the title, Abigail Adams: A Writing Life.

Gelles wrote the centennial catalogue for the Libraries of Stanford University: "For Instruction and Research." She has published many articles and reviews and has taught in the Humanities as well as the Continuing Studies Programs at Stanford. (From Stanford University, Institute for Gender Research.)

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Book Reviews
There have been numerous biographies, scholarly works, and even novels on the lives of both John Adams, the second President of the United States, and his wife, Abigail. However, few of these works treat the Adamses fully as a couple, struggling together to make it through revolutionary times. Gelles is no stranger to Abigail Adams, having previously written Abigail Adams: A Writing Life and Portia: The World of Abigail Adams. But what is most striking about her latest work is not only that it treats the two formative founding figures together but that it reads much like fiction. Gelles culled her research from the couple's letters, using their words to tell the story of their marriage. By intertwining the stories of John and Abigail, Gelles re-creates the world of revolutionary Boston and New England with marked success. She also reminds us that while the founding of the United States may have been a male enterprise, women were also involved, though their influence was private. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars.
Susan Alteri - Library Journal

Gelles’ focus here is on the relationship, even partnership, between two highly intelligent, strong-willed individuals.... [A] fine, well-documented examination of a long, successful partnership. —Jay Freeman
Booklist

A dual biography spotlighting one of the most remarkable partnerships in American history. The United States has had only a few First Couples in which the historical significance of the wife has approached that of the husband. John and Abigail Adams share this status almost entirely because of Abigail's letters, a correspondence Gelles (Gender Studies/Stanford Univ.; Abigail Adams: A Writing Life, 2002, etc.) rightly terms the revolutionary era's "best historical record written by a woman." In letters to her husband, children and friends like Mercy Warren, James Lovell and Thomas Jefferson, Abigail revealed her liveliness, strong affections, abiding faith and keen intelligence, all crucial to maintaining a marriage marked by frequent forced separations. Certain passages from this epistolary treasure have become famous: Abigail's eyewitness description of the Battle of Bunker Hill, her disquisition against slavery, her proto-feminist plea to her husband, occupied with theories of government at the Continental Congress, to "Remember the Ladies." Gelles uses these letters and many more including John's to Abigail to construct a moving picture of a marriage whose terms required constant renegotiation as events forced each partner to assume or relinquish tasks commonly ascribed to the other sex. Both subscribed to what the author terms their "family myth." From Braintree to Boston, Paris to London, Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., where they became the first occupants of what would later become known as the White House, the Adams's story is one of politics interwoven with family life. Notwithstanding some occasional, unfortunate academic locutions (e.g., "gender" used as a verb), Gelles pushes their marriage and family life vividly to the fore. She examines the couple's shared sorrows: a daughter's miserable marriage, an alcoholic son, as well as the many triumphs that would have been impossible, but for Abigail's wise management of her household and solicitous care for her brilliant, deeply insecure husband. A revealing exploration of an exceptional marriage marked by mutual understanding, empathy and deep love.
Kirkus Reviews

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Abigail and John:

1. What did John Adams mean when he referred to his and Abigail's attraction to one another as "the Steel and the Magnet"? Who was the steel...and who the magnet?

2. How does one explain this remarkable 54-year-marriage between two strong and independent personalities? To what do you attribute it? What gave it the relationship strength? Was their marriage unique—was it typical of the 18th century? Is it unique by today's standards?

3. What were some of the worst hardships the couple endured? How, dear readers, would any of us have withstood those difficulties?

3. What can you discern of each personality through their letters? How would you describe Abigail...and how would you describe John? Have you learned anything new about either of them? What surprised you the most...or increased your admiration for them...or disappointed you?

4. Gelles says that both partners bought into "the family myth." What does she mean by that...what was the myth, and how did it work (according to the author) to keep them together? In fact, was it a myth—or was it as much truth as fiction?

5. Talk about the affect of the Alien and Sedition Acts on John Adams's reputation...and on the country. How influential was Abigail in their passage? What was her attitude toward them?

6. Discuss Abigail's relationships/friendships with others: Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and his daughter Patsy? What was Abigail's relationship with James Lovell? Why did she refer to him as "a dangerous man"?

7. What is Gelles' theory for why Adams picked up his pen (quill) and wrote to Jefferson—thus resuming their friendship after a bitter, protracted dispute?

8. Was Abigail a proto-feminist? (There is disagreement on the answer to this question. What do you think?)

9. Select one of your favorite letters, by either John or Abigail, and read it out loud. Why does it stand out to you?

10. How did Abigail define the role of First Lady? Is her version of First Lady relevant today—or has it changed?

11. As First Lady, how influential was Abigail in developing national policy?

12. Talk about the Adams's long separation when John was in Paris. How difficult would it have been to maintain their marriage over time and distance—without the ease of modern communications?!

13. Talk about John and Abigail as parents...and their relationships with their children.

14. What other works have you read about the Adamses? How does this compare with them?

15. Have you watched John Adams, the 2008 miniseries with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney? You might consider playing segments of it during your meeting...and comparing film and book. (The series was based on David McCullough's 2001 biography, John Adams.)

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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