This is the life of Abigail Adams, wife of patriot John Adams, who became the most influential woman in Revolutionary America. Rich with excerpts from her personal letters, Dearest Friend captures the public and private sides of this fascinating woman, who was both an advocate of slave emancipation and a burgeoning feminist, urging her husband to "Remember the Ladies" as he framed the laws of their new country.

John and Abigail Adams married for love. While John traveled in America and abroad to help forge a new nation, Abigail remained at home, raising four children, managing their estate, and writing letters to her beloved husband. Chronicling their remarkable fifty-four-year marriage, her blossoming feminism, her battles with loneliness, and her friendships with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Dearest Friend paints a portrait of Abigail Adams as an intelligent, resourceful, and outspoken woman.

"Voyages of Discovery" is the story of the last great age of European sea exploration, when state-supported expeditions driven by both scientific and political motives set out to map the remaining unknown parts of the globe. Focusing on the voyages of the preeminent explorer, Captain James Cook, who commanded three round-the-world expeditions between 1768 and 1780, Lynne Withey illuminates the Pacific islanders' views of their "discoverers" as well.