Famous Letters: Messages and Thoughts that Shaped Our World

Features Leonardo da Vinci humbly applying for a job, Marie Antoinette writing a farewell letter to her sister minutes before facing the guillotine, and George Washington's angry response to the suggestion that he be crowned king. 20,000 first printing.

The great letters of history -- letters by the famous and powerful, letters that have themselves been part of the events that have changed history give us a unique window on the past.

This book is an illustrated survey of 50 letters by some of the best-known men and women in history. Each was either intimately connected with famous moments in the past or throws a light on the personalities and celebrities of history.

Among the famous letter writers represented here are:
-- Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII
-- Marie Antoinette to Madame Elizabeth
-- Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Lydia Bixby
-- Neville Chamberlain to Adolf Hitler
-- Albert Einstein to Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Each letter is presented in modern English and transports the reader straight into the past, evoking the passions and dramas of the moment in which it was written. This fine collection of the world's most intriguing correspondence is sure to offer a glimpse into the great minds and moments of the past.