Name: Posterity
ISBN: 9780385503303

Dorie McCullough Lawson

A treasury of personal letters from famous Americans to their children features contributions by such individuals as Frederick Douglass, Albert Einstein, Groucho Marx, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Letters of Great Americans to Their Children

Posterity

An elegantly designed, beautifully composed volume of personal letters from famous American men and women that celebrates the American Experience and illuminates the rich history of some of America’s most storied families. Posterity is at once an epistolary chronicle of America and a fascinating glimpse into the hearts and minds of some of history’s most admired figures and storied families. Spanning more than three centuries, these letters contain enduring lessons—in life, love, character and compassion—that will surprise and enlighten. Included here are letters from Thomas Jefferson to his daughter, warning her of the evils of debt; General Patton on D-Day to his son, a cadet at West Point, about what it means to be a good soldier; W.E.B. Du Bois to his daughter about character beneath the color of skin; Oscar Hammerstein about why, after all his success, he doesn’t stop working; Woody Guthrie, writing from a New Jersey asylum, to nine-year-old Arlo about universal human frailty; Eleanor Roosevelt chastising her grown son for his Christmas plans; and Groucho Marx as a dog to his twenty-five-year-old son. Here are renowned Americans in their own words and in their own times, seen as they were seen by their children. Here are our great Americans as mothers and fathers.

Parents are imperfect humans. And no matter how famous or not one may be, this book shows the common threads of concern, love, and legacy that parents share about their children. 

Posterity Letters of Great Americans to Their Children

Reviews

Highlights