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nonna7's review
5.0
It took me a while to finish this book. I started it at the end of January this year and just finished it today, the 29th of March. It's an interesting book. I have a list of my favorite letters. One of my favorites is that letter that was featured in the first episode of The Civil War series that was on PBS, the letter from Sullivan Ballou to his wife, Sarah. It never fails to move me. This line always brings me to tears: "But Oh, Sarah! if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you..." He must have been quite a wonderful man. It's probably one of the most beautiful letters I've ever read. Sarah was, in many respects, a very lucky woman, although I'm sure she would have rather had her husband returned to her. Tragically he died not long after he sent the letter. There are a number of interesting letters including a letter from a woman to her birth mother and more. There are funny letters including one from Groucho Marx writing to complain that the studio that filmed Casablanca is trying to stop him from doing a Marx brothers version called "A Night In Casablanca." He was really a very smart and witty man. Some might disagree, but the Marx Brothers movies are full of wit, not just slapstick. He was also the host of "You Bet Your Life" which, for some reason, I watched faithfully as a very little girl. Obviously I understood something about it. I just remember he was funny. A letter to Eddie who died in Vietnam was left at the wall. That brought me to tears. This is really an excellent book. It was worth taking the time to read at my leisure. I took a lot of notes as well. I'll go back to it one of these days...hopefully!
cancermoononhigh's review
3.0
It was an interesting read. I feel letters are a lost art these days - with email//texting taking over as the norm.
celebrin's review
4.0
I highly recommend this collection of letters from people as varied as John Adams and Martin Luther King Jr. It's reading history from a personal level.
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