The World's Greatest Letters


Book Description

This handsome and elegant anthology of famous historical letters covers all aspects of human life—emotional, creative, and intellectual. Hundreds of letters organized by topic are featured from well-known men and women such as Joan of Arc, HernÁn CortÉs, Albert Einstein, and Virginia Woolf. Revealing not only the history of the age but the personality of the writer, these famous letters from leaders, lovers, and thinkers describe some of the most monumental cultural and social happenings in the modern world, such as Columbus's letter describing his discovery of the New World, Chief Seattle's letter to President Pierce, and Jung's famous letter to Freud. Offering fresh insight into the past, these letters serve as reminders of the passions and people who shaped the world.




Written in History


Book Description

Outstanding selection of great letters from ancient times to the 21st century, touching on power, love, art, sex, faith, and war. Written in History: Letters that Changed the World celebrates the great letters of world history, and cultural and personal life. Bestselling, prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion—whether passion, rage, humor—from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal, coarse, and frankly outrageous, many are erotic, others heartbreaking. It is a surprising and eclectic selection, from the four corners of the world, filled with extraordinary women and men, from ancient times to now. Truly a choice of letters for our own times encompassing love letters to calls for liberation to declarations of war to reflections on life and death. The writers vary from Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great to Mandela, Stalin and Picasso, Fanny Burney and Emily Pankhurst to Ada Lovelace and Rosa Parks, Oscar Wilde, Chekhov and Pushkin to Balzac, Mozart and Michelangelo, Hitler, Rameses the Great and Alexander Hamilton to Augustus and Churchill, Lincoln, Donald Trump and Suleiman the Magnificent. In a book that is a perfect gift, here is a window on astonishing characters, seminal events, and unforgettable words. In the colorful, accessible style of a master storyteller, Montefiore shows why these letters are essential reading and how they can unveil and enlighten the past—and enrich the way we live now.







The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time


Book Description

If a picture speaks a thousand words, a love letter speaks a thousand more . . . Even in this age of e-mail, faxes, and instant messaging, nothing has ever replaced the power of a love letter. Much the way light displays every color when passed through a prism, love letters express the spectrum of our emotions, offering a colorful glimpse into the soul of the writer, and of the writer's beloved. For passionate readers and lovers of words, a letter is irresistible. Internationally renowned collector David Lowenherz sifted through hundreds and hundreds of historical and contemporary epistles and selected the most ardent, witty, whimsical, sexy, clever, and touching letters for this inspiring collection. Unlike interviews or biographies, these letters give us marvelous insight into the lives of some of history's most famous lovers and provide intimate glimpses into the hearts of some whose fervent or amusing expressions of devotion will come as a great surprise. Zelda Fitzgerald to Scott Fitzgerald Michelangelo Buonarroti to Vittoria Colonna Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toConstanze Mozart Harry Truman to Bess Wallace Khalil Gibran to Mary Haskell Benjamin Franklin to Madame Brillon Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton George Bush to Barbara Pierce Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn Elizabeth Barrett Browning to George Barrett Jack London to Anna Strunsky Marc Chagall to Bella Chagall Ernest Hemingway to Mary Welsh Jack Kerouac to Sebastian Sampas Alfred Dreyfus to Lucie Dreyfus Marjorie Fossa to Elvis Presley Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West Ludwig van Beethoven to the "Immortal Beloved" Emma Goldman to Ben Reitman Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera Dylan Thomas to Caitlin Thomas Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine Bonaparte Abigail Smith to John Adams John Ruskin to Euphemia Ruskin George Sand to Gustave Flaubert Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren Anais Nin to Henry Miller Voltaire to Marie Louise Denis James Thurber to Eva Prout George Bernard Shaw to Stella Campbell Sarah Bernhardt to Jean Richepin Marcel Proust to Daniel Halevy Frank Lloyd Wright to Maude Miriam Noel Anne Sexton to Philip Legler Elizabeth I to Thomas Seymour Oscar Wilde to Constance Lloyd Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Maury Charles Parnell to Katherine O'Shea Lewis Carroll to Clara Cunnyngham







Love Letters of Great Men


Book Description

Remember the wonderfully romantic book of love letters that Carrie reads aloud to Big in the recent blockbuster film, Sex and the City? Fans raced to buy copies of their own, only to find out that the beautiful book didn't actually exist. However, since all of the letters referenced in the film did exist, we decided to publish this gorgeous keepsake ourselves. Love Letters of Great Men follows hot on the heels of the film and collects together some of history's most romantic letters from the private papers of Beethoven, Mark Twain, Mozart, and Lord Byron. For some of these great men, love is "a delicious poison" (William Congreve); for others, "a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music" (Charles Darwin). Love can scorch like the heat of the sun (Henry VIII), or penetrate the depths of one's heart like a cooling rain (Flaubert). Every shade of love is here, from the exquisite eloquence of Oscar Wilde and the simple devotion of Robert Browning, to the wonderfully modern misery of the Roman Pliny the Younger, losing himself in work to forget how much he misses his beloved wife, Calpurnia. Taken together, these letters show that perhaps men haven't changed all that much over the last 2,000 years--passion, jealousy, hope and longing still rule their hearts and minds. In an age of e-mail and texted "i luv u"s, this timeless and unique collection reminds us that nothing can compare to the simple joy of sitting down to read a letter from the one you love.




Letters of the Century


Book Description

"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 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 100 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... 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.




The World's Great Letters


Book Description

From ancient days to our own time containing the characteristics and crucial.




Warren Buffett's Ground Rules


Book Description

Using the letters Warren Buffett wrote to his partners between 1956 and 1970, a veteran financial advisor presents the renowned guru’s “ground rules” for investing—guidelines that remain startlingly relevant today. In the fourteen years between his time in New York with value-investing guru Benjamin Graham and his start as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett managed Buffett Partnership Limited, his first professional investing partnership. Over the course of that time—a period in which he experienced an unprecedented record of success—Buffett wrote semiannual letters to his small but growing group of partners, sharing his thoughts, approaches, and reflections. Compiled for the first time and with Buffett’s permission, the letters spotlight his contrarian diversification strategy, his almost religious celebration of compounding interest, his preference for conservative rather than conventional decision making, and his goal and tactics for bettering market results by at least 10% annually. Demonstrating Buffett’s intellectual rigor, they provide a framework to the craft of investing that had not existed before: Buffett built upon the quantitative contributions made by his famous teacher, Benjamin Graham, demonstrating how they could be applied and improved. Jeremy Miller reveals how these letters offer us a rare look into Buffett’s mind and offer accessible lessons in control and discipline—effective in bull and bear markets alike, and in all types of investing climates—that are the bedrock of his success. Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules paints a portrait of the sage as a young investor during a time when he developed the long-term value-oriented strategy that helped him build the foundation of his wealth—rules for success every investor needs today.