"Every evening for 8 years, at his request, President Obama received a binder containing ten handpicked letters from ordinary American citizens--the unfiltered voice of a nation--from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first President to save constituent mail, and this is the story of how those letters affected not only the President and his policies, but also the deeply committed people who were tasked with opening the millions...

Historical events of the last three centuries and personal milestones in women's lives come alive through these singular correspondences, over 400 letters accompanied by over 100 photographs. In 1775, Rachel Revere tries to send financial aid to her husband, Paul, in a note that is confiscated by the British; a mid-nineteenth-century missionary describes a mastectomy performed without anesthesia; one week after JFK's assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy...

Previously unpublished letters and emails, personal correspondence of US and foreign troops and civilians who have experienced major conflicts firsthand, from the American Revolution to 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq.