50 Greatest Letters

50 Greatest Letters brings to you letters sent throughout history that have proven to be enduring symbols of love, sincerity, anger or of intense historical value. The love letters by Henry VIII, Beethoven, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe and more impress upon us the longing and the desperation of these love-stricken people in the throes of desire. The innocence of children, such as Grace Bedell’s childish suggestion that ended up creating one of the most iconic American images, of the young Helen Keller’s determination and optimism in trying to achieve what others thought was impossible, of the twelve-year-old Fidel Castro’s cheeky letter to Roosevelt asking for ten dollars or of little Phyllis’s innocent question of whether scientists prayed to God. All these and more are present in this volume to give you a flavour of the time, and the mood the authors of these letters were living in. It also becomes an exercise in looking at the economy of words and information that these people of the past employed, something that we in our present moment can afford to learn.