Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999

by Lisa Grunwald

Book Overview

"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 more than 400... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385315902
• ISBN13: 9780385315906
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 1.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 7.6" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

This book is a treasure

This book is a wonderful collection of stories from every year of the 20th century. The authors of the letters are famous people and ordinary citizens. These letters express every human emotion love, loss, triumph, joy, and hope. This book is a pleasure to read. My favorite story is about a young woman writing to her best friend about her bad marriage. Her husband is physically abusive to her and her son. She yearns for the courage to escape and become an independant woman which she eventually does. Another story by a young man who actually survived the sinking of the Titanic He writes his girlfriend about his experience of getting off the ship and waiting to be rescued.There is a letter by a woman in Hawaii to her brother in Ohio. She recounted witnessing the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War 2. She recounts going to a bomb shelter and depicts the commaraderie among the people of the time. There is a Dear John letter addressed to Ernest Hemmingway from a nurse who cared for him while he was wounded in World War 1 He loved her but their relationship was a mere fling to her. She lets him down gently. This relationship inspired Hemingway to write the novel The Sun Also Rises. There is another letter written by a young unwed pregnant woman in the 1930's seeking advice from a doctor. Her father has no knowledge of the pregnancy and her mother is dead. She has nobody to turn to and her desperate plea for guidance is very touching.There is another poignant letter written by the sister of a Vietnam Vet who died from lymphnoma as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. She expresses her disbelief, loss and sorrow to an anti war group. There are several stories written by expectant parents to their unborn children. Each letter is filled with anticipation and hope. Buy this book. You will never be able to put it down.

Most honest interesting book I have ever read.

I originally purchased this book as a gift. I kept the book and then bought 2 more! What a wonderful history of everyday people and even very famous people. This book is not some historians own spin on what they consider important. Very personal revealing honest letters that expose you to human emotion unlike anything you have ever read. Reading this you will experience every feeling possible. The letter Jesse Helms wrote to a grieving mother will futher exposes him as the meanspirited clueless person that he really is. This book will not disappoint you. Do yourself a favor and buy it now.

An oral history of the Twentieth Century in America.

Letters of the Century is an eclectic collection of letters written during the Twentieth Century. Some are from or to famous people and others are from and to more common folk, but all are pertinent for one reason or another. Each letter has an introductory paragraph, explaining why the letter is important. Further, the letters are organized into chronological order, and as a bonus each decade has an introduction, covering important events and statistics. Finally, the book contains an excellent index.At first glance, I didn't take this book seriously. However, once I began reading it, I was enthralled. The letters run the gamut, from angering to touching. It's hard to say more than that you need to read this book to understand it, and it is a very good book indeed.

Perfect Bathroom Reading, Perfect Holiday Gift

Great bathroom read and it's thick enough (760 pages!) to count as a legitimate gift. All of the letters are interesting and some absolutely take your breath away (1934 letter from the head of the NAACP trying unsuccessfully to stop a lynching in Florida). Some are hilarious (Groucho Marx writing the Warner Brothers about "A Night in Casablanca" after they threatened him because of similarities to "Casablanca"). I've already given this book as a present to friends, relatives, and my kids' teachers (great gift to teachers!) and have heard nothing but raves. What a treat to find this meticulously researched and beautifully written jewel of a book. Letters of the Century definitely has "legs" (and a cute nose). I expect it to be on the best seller list for a long time to come.

Awesome and Enlightning

If you love history this book will give you an idea of every day life from both the famous and the every day person. The letter from Jackie to Lyndon Johnson was especially moving as were the letters for Dec. 7 1944. This book truely shows how far we have come as a civilization and the importance of every man!