Letters of the Century

Encapsulating the people, places, events and trends that shaped our nation during the last 100 years, this book arrives in time to be a major gift book of the season. Beautifully illustrated and produced, it offers more than 400 letters from both famous figures and ordinary citizens, creating an extraordinary chronicle of our history and an essential volume for any family library. A collection of fascinating letters by Americans, famous and obscure, chronicles a century of life in the United States, from Mark Twain's side-splitting, hilarious letter of complaint to the head of Western Union, to an ecstatic letter from a young Charlie Chaplin upon receiving his first movie contract, to Einstein's warning to Roosevelt about atomic warfare, and a young Bill Gates begging hobbyists not to share software, so innovators can make some money, as well as Mark Rudd's "generation gap" letter to the president of Columbia University during the student riots of the 60s. "Immediate and evocative, letters witness and fasten history, catching events as they happen," write Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler in their introduction to this remarkable book. In these pages, our century's most celebrated figures become everyday people and everyday people become part of history. Here is a veteran's wrenching letter left at the Vietnam Wall, a poignant correspondence between two women trying to become mothers, a heart-breaking letter from an AIDS sufferer telling his parents how he wants to be buried, an indignant e-mail from a PC user to his on-line server. "Letters," write Grunwald and Adler, "give history a voice." Arranged chronologically by decade, illustrated with over 100 photographs, Letters of the Century creates an extraordinary chronicle of our history, through the voices of the men and women who have lived its greatest moments. Illustrations & photos. "In more than 400 letters from both famous figures and ordinary citizens, Letters of the Century encapsulates the people and places, events and trends that shaped our nation during the last hundred years. Here is Mark Twain's hilarious letter of complaint to the head of Western Union, an ecstatic letter from a young Charlie Chaplin upon receiving his first movie contract, Einstein's letter to Franklin Roosevelt warning about atomic warfare, Mark Rudd's "generation gap" letter to the president of Columbia University during the student riots of the '60s, and a letter from young Bill Gates imploring hobbyists not to share software so that innovators can make some money."--BOOK JACKET. "In these pages our century's most celebrated figures become everyday people and everyday people become part of history. Here is a veteran's wrenching letter left at the Vietnam Wall, a poignant correspondence between two women trying to become mothers, a heartbreaking letter from an AIDS sufferer telling his parents how he wants to be buried, and an indignant e-mail from a PC user to his on-line server."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.