Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children

"Lawson, daughter of Pulitzer Prize — winning historian David McCullough, debuts with this anthology. Along with advice and words of wisdom, these letters offer intimate insights into the lives of 68 acclaimed Americans — actors, artists, explorers, inventors, novelists, playwrights, politicians — including Ansel Adams, Thomas Edison, Sam Houston, Mary Todd Lincoln, Jack London, Clare Boothe Luce, Groucho Marx, John O'Hara, Frederick Law Olmsted, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The material is gathered thematically into chapters such as 'Love,' 'Loss' and 'Struggle,' and each correspondent gets a biographical, scene-setting introduction. Lawson views letters as 'the color, heart, and personality of history,' and McCullough, in his foreword, calls them 'missives of love,' adding, 'Often the authors want only to save their children from making the mistakes they have.' Among these colorful and compassionate epistles are delights and surprises. While Alexander Graham Bell copied jokes from newspapers, the Three Stooges' Moe Howard composed poetry for his eight-year-old daughter. Suffering in a New Jersey hospital, Woody Guthrie told nine-year-old Arlo, 'Don't whine to god.... Be thankenful [sic] to god.' Illustrator N.C. Wyeth cautioned Andrew Wyeth: 'There's a real task on our hands, Andy. Modern art critics and their supine followers like the flat and the shallow.' Spanning three centuries, this is a meticulously edited collection, enlightening and entertaining. An appendix traces births, death, marriages and children for each author. Agent, Luke Janklow. (On sale Apr. 13) Forecast: The April publication date positions this as an ideal graduation gift, and the elegant jacket design, combining penmanship and a postage stamp, cleverly communicates the contents to book buyers." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"In our age of e-mail and other disposable bits of communication, a book of carefully composed personal letters is a rare treat. [A] beautiful volume, masterfully edited by Lawson....A one-of-a-kind collection." Library Journal

In the tradition of Letters of the Century, this rich collection of letters 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.

Dorie McCullough Lawson graduated from Middlebury College, where she majored in history. She works and lives in Rockport, Maine with her husband and three children. This is her first book.