Spanning 350 years of American history and culture, a collection of more than two hundred letters, many never before published, reveals the personalities and feelings of Americans great and small, from Amelia Earhart to Elvis Presley to Malcolm X. Reprint.

In 1998, Andrew Carroll founded the Legacy Project, with the goal of remembering Americans who have served their nation and preserving their letters for posterity. Since then, over 50,000 letters have poured in from around the country. Nearly two hundred of them comprise this amazing collection -- including never-before-published letters that appear in the new afterword. Here are letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf war, Somalia, and Bosnia -- dramatic eyewitness accounts from the front lines, poignant expressions of love for family and country, insightful reflections on the nature of warfare. Amid the voices of common soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, nurses, journalists, spies, and chaplains are letters by such legendary figures as Gen. William T. Sherman, Clara Barton, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernie Pyle, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Julia Child, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, and Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. Collected in War Letters, they are an astonishing historical record, a powerful tribute to those who fought, and a celebration of the enduring power of letters.

In October 1947, two months after he became independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the first of his fortnightly letters to the heads of the country’s provincial governments—a tradition he kept until a few months before his death. This carefully selected collection covers a range of themes and subjects, including citizenship, war and peace, law and order, governance and corruption, and India’s place in the world. The letters also cover momentous world events and the many crises the country faced during the first sixteen years after Independence. Visionary, wise and reflective, these letters are of great contemporary relevance for the guidance they provide for our current problems and predicaments.

Writing in her native “Texlish,” Molly Ivins planted herself squarely in the tradition of plain-spoken and earthy American humor, the big river that runs from Mark Twain straight through to Will Rogers, Ring Lardner and George Carlin. Between 1982 and 2007, Ivins contributed seventeen consistently sharp and funny articles to The Nation, starting with what might be described as her “Letters From Texas,” in which she discussed political developments in the Lone Star State, whose zany politics were full of exotic people dubbed “The Gibber,” “The Breck Girl” and “Governor Goodhair.” Despite their humor, however, Ivins’s pieces always delivered trenchant political commentary. And she could also write highly accomplished and fascinating cultural essays and book reviews (such as “Ezra Pound in East Texas,” included in this eBook).

From our former Governor General, The Idea of a Nation is a series of fifty—of several thousand—carefully chosen letters he has written to people he has admired and befriended over his seventy-plus years, that sets out David Johnston's frank, informed, and novel thoughts about Canada. Touching on a wide range of topics ranging from learning, the law, kindness and courage, to the monarchy, Aboriginal education, justice, bilingualism, mental health, and hockey, David Johnston has always used the letter writing form to tackle the passions, challenges, and goals of his incredibly accomplished and varied life. From his earliest years at Harvard, he has written several letters each day, starting with those to his large family, and broadening out to an ever-widening circle of friends that includes ministers and monarchs, educators and entrepreneurs, and many extraordinary Canadians who have deepened his perspective and touched his heart. The letters included in this beautiful volume are all about Canada—a project to help him understand and share his views on this great country, past, present, and future. Presented in three parts—What Shapes Me, What Consumes Me, and What Comforts Me—The Right Honourable David Johnston reaches out to his grandchildren, Kevin Vickers, Clara Hughes, Chris Hadfield, the Aga Khan, Tina Fontaine, Mike Lazaridis, the teachers of our country, a grade five class in Winnipeg, an unknown Inuit boy he met at Rideau Hall, and many others. The perfect gift for graduates, this unique and lovely book should find its home in every Canadian's library.

A criticism of Christianity from the secularist point of view.