Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blythe, 1766
Abigail Adams by Woody Holton.
My first biography of the year – I got interested in Abigail Adams because Frans watches the HBO John Adams documentary over and over, and I like it portrays the relationship between the two of them. That, and how Abigail is alway putting John in his place. Very good book, and I appreciated how Holton emphasizes how Abigail challenged the notion of coverture (the idea that a woman was legally/financially invisible once she married) by making investments, going into trade for a little while, and, towards the end of her life, making her own will. Also fascinating was the huge amount of correspondence going on between Abigail and John, as well as Abigail and her other relatives and many friends and acquaintances. Many of the letters between Abigail and John are available digitally on the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Adams Family Papers Archive. I just picked up a copy of My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams – not sure if I’m going to have time to read the whole things right now, but I’ll definitely browse through it.
