If you saw the Sex And The City Movie, you probably are familiar with the infamous “Love Letters of Great Men” book. If you are like me, you looked for it after the movie only to find out that it was a fictional book. No longer! John C. Kirkland sensed that women everywhere would be searching for a compilation of love letters written through the years by some of the greatest men in history and he’s succeeded in putting together an impressive first volume.
I read his first volume, Love Letters of Great Men, on my flight back from New York where I covered fashion week with my friends (yes, very SATC of us). I finished it in about 2 hours - it was a quick read and is the kind of book that you’ll go back read passages over and over gain. The book is set up chronologically and takes you through time and features men from history including Ovid, Voltaire, Napoleon, Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, Kafka and Woodrow Wilson. After each man’s love letters, a short bio of the man follows. I started reading it the way it was laid out but soon started to read the bios first, and then the love letters. I felt that I had a better understanding of the person if I knew exactly who he was before reading some of his most personal, intimate thoughts.
Reading these love letters, you realize that you are reading about that which makes these strong, capable men most vulnerable - the women they love. Love Letters of Great Men, takes you to a time before phones, email and text messages. A time when you would be separated from your love for months, if not years, on end and when pen and paper were the only thing connecting you to him/her. It was interesting to see how passionate some of these men were. It wasn’t surprising that Naploeon, a legendary warrior and known for his fiery temper, was equally passionate when it came to Josephine. And, it was interesting to read, that George Washington, the “father of our country,” reluctantly took his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, as he told Martha that he would rather stay at home with her. One of the saddest letters (and definitely a tear jerker) was written by Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife on the eve of battle - the last correspondence he would send to her:
But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night - amidst your happpiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Love Letters of Great Men, Volume 1, is a wonderful selection of letters written by great men, to the equally great women that loved them. My only peeve was that Henry VIII was included, and his letter to Anne Boleyn seemed a bit hypocritcal because ultimately he had her beheaded after falsely accusing her of adultery. Other than that I loved the book. I’m excited because Kirkland ends by alluding to an upcoming Volume 2 that might include the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Roosevelt, Kipling, Shakespeare, Wilde and Freud.
You can purchase Love Letters of Great Men online here. Some of the stories end tragically, but this realization truly illustrated to me that “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.? -Lord Tennyson
