"When Harry Met Sally" is only the most iconic of popular American movies, books, and articles that pose the question of whether friendships between men and women are possible. In Founding Friendships, Cassandra A. Good shows that this question was embedded in and debated as far back as the birth of the American nation. Indeed, many of the nation's founding fathers had female friends but popular rhetoric held that these relationships were fraught with social danger, if not impossible. Elite men and women formed loving, politically significant friendships in the early national period that were crucial to the individuals' lives as well as the formation of a new national political system, as Cassandra Good illuminates. Abigail Adams called her friend Thomas Jefferson "one of the choice ones on earth," while George Washington signed a letter to his friend Elizabeth Powel with the words "I am always Yours." Their emotionally rich language is often mistaken for romance, but by analyzing period letters, diaries, novels, and etiquette books, Good reveals that friendships between men and women were quite common. At a time when personal relationships were deeply political, these bonds offered both parties affection and practical assistance as well as exemplified republican values of choice, freedom, equality, and virtue. In so doing, these friendships embodied the core values of the new nation and represented a transitional moment in gender and culture. Northern and Southern, famous and lesser known, the men and women examined in Founding Friendships offer a fresh look at how the founding generation defined and experienced friendship, love, gender, and power.

This book presents the first extended analysis of the friendship network of John Adams, forged during his lengthy public career from 1774-1801. While scholars have considered historic friendships, this monograph examines Adams’s friendship network within a generation of revolutionaries. The six friendships explored exemplify the diversity of political interaction: primary friendship (Abigail), intimate confidence (Rush), political alliance (Gerry), emergent rivalry (Jefferson), the politics of personal difference (Mercy Otis Warren), and idolised revolutionary (Samuel Adams). This work positions friendship at the heart of the historian’s craft; reconstructing historic relationships and considering the evolution of each dyad to examine the tensions, candour, intimacy, and forms of alliance in each. Adams’s impassioned epistles present a window into his private ruminations. John Adams’s expectation of friendship changed at each stage of his career: Through 1774-1801, Adams entreated support from friends, debated issues pertaining to politics, diplomacy, and the national interest, sought comfort from intimates, and lamented divisions from former friends. For John Adams, friendship represented the art of politics. This volume will be of value to students and scholars alike interested in American history, political history and social and cultural history.

How James Monroe's relationships impacted the rise, fall, and rebirth of political parties in the early American republic. From the Revolutionary War to his death in 1831, James Monroe's life was dominated by partisan politics. Monroe—not uniquely among the American founders—hated political parties, even writing that he "always considered their existence as the curse of the country." Yet his career saw the rise, fall, and rebirth of American political parties. In The Founders' Curse, historian Brook Poston tells the story of Monroe's decision to help create the Jeffersonian Republican party, his efforts to destroy the Federalists and eliminate the need for parties, and the role he played in their rebirth as various parties developed after the battle to succeed his presidency in 1824. For a time, Monroe succeeded in his goal to eliminate parties: during his presidency, he intentionally made appointments designed to lessen partisanship and took tours of the nation that brought the country together. Monroe developed relationships with every major political figure of the first half-century of American history, spanning two different generations—yet all his relationships were defined by political parties. In the end, Poston explains how Monroe's successes in eliminating political parties ultimately brought them back with a vengeance under Andrew Jackson's presidency, thus laying the foundations of the modern two-party system of the American government.

Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice breaks new ground in identifying and capturing the importance of friendships and the role that community practitioners and scholars can play to enhance them.

"Although the friendship between George Washington and James Madison was eclipsed in the early 1790s by the alliances of Madison with Jefferson and Washington with Hamilton, their collaboration remains central to the constitutional revolution that launched the American experiment in republican government. Washington relied heavily on Madison's advice, pen, and legislative skill, while Madison found Washington's prestige indispensable for achieving his goals for the new nation. Together, Stuart Leibiger argues, Washington and Madison struggled to conceptualize a political framework that would respond to the majority without violating minority rights. Stubbornly refusing to sacrifice either of these objectives, they cooperated in helping to build and implement a powerful, extremely republican constitution. Observing Washington and Madison in light of their special relationship, Leibiger argues against a series of misconceptions about the two men. Madison emerges as neither a strong nationalist of the Hamiltonian variety nor a political consolidationist; he did not retreat from nationalism to states' rights in the 1790s, as other historians have charged. Washington, far from being a majestic figurehead, exhibits a strong constitutional vision and firm control of his administration. By examining closely Washington and Madison's correspondence and personal visits, Leibiger shows how a marriage of political convenience between two members of the Chesapeake elite grew into a genuine companionship fostered by historical events and a mutual interest in agriculture and science. The development of their friendship, and eventual estrangement, mirrors in fascinating ways the political development of the early Republic."--Abebooks.com viewed Sept. 25, 2023.

This book bundle includes five sweet romance books from the DO-OVER DATE series that are fresh, flirty & fabulous! (MILLION DOLLAR DATE, Book 1) Leads-with-her heart Abigail Apple is determined to save her favorite dog rescue from closing while follow-the-rules cop Cooper Hill might be the key to saving the shelter and winning her heart. (THE DOUBLE DATE DISASTER, Book 2) When workaholic Jennifer Page’s blind sushi date turns into a whitewater rafting disaster, outdoor adventurist Dylan Douglas teaches her that love is the one item she forgot to put on her to-do list. (THE DATE NEXT DOOR, Book 3) Carefree Hannah Griffin is able to ignore her long-time crush on her best friend’s older brother, super polished Blake Remington, until he moves in next door. (DATE TO THE RESCUE, Book 4) Lucy Remington takes cooking lessons to attract a stable, uncomplicated guy and ends up falling for hot and spicy firefighter Jake Bryant after she accidentally sets her kitchen on fire. (THE DASHING DATE, Book 5) When fashionable supermodel Missy Peters teams up with gym owner Nick Zambini for a business venture, they get more than they bargain for when feelings start to fly. ★★★★★ “Hats off to Hatler who has done it again! Another sweet and funny romance full of laughter and tears!” — Books Are Sanity!!!, on Million Dollar Date ★★★★★ “Once again, Susan Hatler delivers a hilarious romantic comedy that brings both laughter and swoons to the reader.” — Katie’s Clean Book Collection, on The Double Date Disaster ★★★★★ “Things start out wrong and as the story progresses love blooms! Great characters and wonderful story.” — Grannie Loves to Read, on The Date Next Door ★★★★★ “I am loving this series and the characters. I found the story to be sweet, cute, charming, and fun.” — Just a Girl Kindleing, on Date to the Rescue ★★★★★ “Cute and heartwarming. Nick and Missy are the sweetest couple and their story is so romantic!” — Romance Junkie, on The Dashing Date

The friendship of the bachelor politicians James Buchanan (1791-1868) of Pennsylvania and William Rufus King (1786-1853) of Alabama has excited much speculation through the years. Why did neither marry? Might they have been gay? Or was their relationship a nineteenth-century version of the modern-day "bromance"? In Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, Thomas J. Balcerski explores the lives of these two politicians and discovers one of the most significant collaborations in American political history. He traces the parallels in the men's personal and professional lives before elected office, including their failed romantic courtships and the stories they told about them. Unlikely companions from the start, they lived together as congressional messmates in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse and became close confidantes. Around the nation's capital, the men were mocked for their effeminacy and perhaps their sexuality, and they were likened to Siamese twins. Over time, their intimate friendship blossomed into a significant cross-sectional political partnership. Balcerski examines Buchanan's and King's contributions to the Jacksonian political agenda, manifest destiny, and the increasingly divisive debates over slavery, while contesting interpretations that the men lacked political principles and deserved blame for the breakdown of the union. He closely narrates each man's rise to national prominence, as William Rufus King was elected vice-president in 1852 and James Buchanan the nation's fifteenth president in 1856, despite the political gossip that circulated about them. While exploring a same-sex relationship that powerfully shaped national events in the antebellum era, Bosom Friends demonstrates that intimate male friendships among politicians were--and continue to be--an important part of success in American politics.