Book Review: Letters detail marriage

Not only was Abigail Adams essential to the success of our second president, John Adams, she left a written record. Her letters constitute much of the material in a landmark book, "Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage” (William Morrow, $26.99). Author Edith B. Gelles portrays a marriage filled with mutual respect and admiration.

This relationship thrived in an era when women were denied the right to vote and when the wife usually confined her efforts to raising a family and keeping the hearth warm. She did those things, often while her husband spent long periods abroad representing the young country, but she also kept busy with correspondence, networking, advice-giving, entertaining and reading.

John and Abigail were children of Massachusetts.

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