100 Letters that Changed the World

Colin Salter is a prolific author of literary history. For Batsford he has written 100 Books that Changed the World, 100 Letters that Changed the World and 100 Speeches that Changed the World. He is the author of a biography of Mark Twain and a history of the books in one family’s three-hundred-year-old library. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, dog and bicycle.

• The Spartans respond to a letter from Philip II of Macedon 14Caesar’s murderers correspond to work out their next move 16St. Paul guides the principles of Christianity through his letters 18Tablets reveal details of life at the edge of the Roman Empire 20Pliny the Younger describes the eruption at Pompeii to Tacitus 22Romano-Britons plead for help from Rome as the empire falls 24English barons try to flex their legal muscle after Magna Carta 26Joan of Arc tells Henry VI she has God on her side 28Leonardo da Vinci sets out his skills to the Duke of Milan 30Henry VII writes to English nobles asking for their support 32Columbus explains his discoveries to the king of Spain 34Martin Luther tells his friend, ‘Let your sins be strong’ 36Henry VIII writes a love letter to Anne Boleyn 38De las Casas exposes Spain’s atrocities in the New World 40Elizabeth I writes to Bloody Mary, begging for her life 42Babington’s plot is revealed in coded letters to Mary, Queen of Scots 44Philip II of Spain insists the Armada press on and attack England 46Lord Monteagle gets a carefully worded warning … 48Galileo explains the first sighting of the moons of Jupiter 50Charles II reassures Parliament that they will be in control 52The English nobility make Prince William of Orange an offer 54Ben Franklin’s stolen mail reveals a political scandal 56Abigail Adams tells husband John to ‘Remember the Ladies’ 58George Washington employs his first spy in the Revolutionary War 60Jefferson advises his nephew to question the existence of God 62Mozart writes to his wife as he struggles to finish Requiem 64Maria Reynolds tells Alexander Hamilton her husband has found out 66Thomas Jefferson wants a French botanist to explore the northwest 68After murdering Marat in his bath, Charlotte Corday writes in despair 70On the eve of battle, Lord Nelson sends a message to his fleet 72Napoleon informs Alexander I that France and Russia are at war 74As machines replace farm labour, Captain Swing issues a threat 76Charles Darwin gets an offer to become the naturalist on a surveying ship 78The first postage stamp transforms the sending of letters 80Friedrich ‘Fred’ Engels begins a lifelong correspondence with Karl ‘Moor’ Marx 82Baudelaire writes a suicide letter to his mistress … and lives 84Major Robert Anderson reports he has surrendered Fort Sumter 86On the eve of battle, Sullivan Ballou writes to his wife, Sarah 88Abraham Lincoln sends GeneralMcClellan an ultimatum 90Abraham Lincoln spells out his Civil War priorities to Horace Greeley 92William Banting wants the world to know how he lost weight 94General Sherman reminds the citizens of Atlanta that war is hell 96Vincent van Gogh writes an emotional letter to his brother, Theo 98A Chicago Methodist training school launches a moneymaker 100George Washington Williams sends a furious open letter to King Leopold II of Belgium 102Alexander Graham Bell writes to Helen Keller’s teacher Anne Sullivan 104Beatrix Potter illustrates a letter to cheer up five-year-old Noel Moore 106Pierre Curie sends Marie a letter begging her to come back and study 108Oscar Wilde writes a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas from Reading Gaol 110Writer Émile Zola accuses the French army of an anti-Semitic conspiracy 112Orville and Wilbur Wright send news to their father, Bishop Milton Wright 114John Muir lobbies Teddy Roosevelt about incursions into Yosemite 116Lewis Wickes Hine reports to the National Child Labor Committee 118Captain Scott: ‘We have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen’ 120The very final letter from the Titanic that was never sent 122Zimmermann offers Mexico the return of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico 124Lord Stamfordham suggests a new name for the British royal family 126Siegfried Sassoon sends an open letter to The Times 128Adof Hitler’s first anti-Semitic writing, a letter sent to Adolf Gemlich 130Master spy Guy Burgess gets a reference to join the BBC 132Eleanor Roosevelt takes a stand against the Daughters of the American Revolution 134Albert Einstein and Leo Szilárd warn President Franklin D. Roosevelt 136Mussolini congratulates Hitler on his pact with Russia 138Winston Churchill pens a blunt response to his private secretary 140Roosevelt sends Churchill the poem that moved Abraham Lincoln 142Virginia Woolf writes a final letter to her husband Leonard 144Winston Churchill gets an urgent request from the codebreakers 146Telegram reports that Pearl Harbor is under attack 148General Nye sends General Alexander a misleading letter … by submarine 150Oppenheimer gets the go-ahead to research an atomic bomb 152J. Edgar Hoover receives ‘The Anonymous Letter’ 154The shipwrecked JFK sends a vital message with two Solomon Islanders 156Marshal Tito warns Stalin to stop sending assassination squads 158Lillian Hellman sends a letter and a message to Senator McCarthy 160William Borden identifies J. Robert Oppenheimer as a Soviet spy 162Jackie Robinson tells Eisenhower his people are tired of waiting 164Wallace Stegner composes as paean to the American wilderness 166Nelson Mandela sends the South African prime minister an ultimatum 168Decca sends a rejection letter to Beatles manager Brian Epstein 170On the brink of war, Khrushchev sends a conciliatory letter to Kennedy 172Kennedy replies to Khrushchev as tensions ease 174Martin Luther King, Jr. sends a letter from Birmingham City Jail 176Profumo’s resignation puts an end to British politics’ biggest sex scandal 178Che Guevara tells Fidel Castro he wants to continue the fight 180James McCord writes to Judge John Sirica after the Watergate trial 182Ronald Wayne sells his 10 percent share in Apple for $800 184Bill Gates writes an open letter to computer hobbyists who are ripping off his software 186Michael Schumacher crosses out ‘the’ and becomes World Champion 188Boris Yeltsin admits running Russia was tougher than he expected 190Sharron Watkins sends a letter criticizing Enron’s dubious accounting 192Dr. David Kelly admits he was the source for critical BBC report 194Bobby Henderson asks Kansas to acknowledge the Spaghetti Monster 196Chelsea Manning writes to Wikileaks with a data dump 198Astronauts lament America’s lack of a space delivery system 200Pussy Riot singer trades philosophies with Slavoj Zizek 202Edward Snowden has a shocking revelation for the German press 204The whistleblowers appeal to future whistleblowers 206Letters – the next investment boom to follow art? 208Women in the entertainment industry demand change 210Greta Thunberg reads a letter to the Indian prime minister 212Addendum: Helen Keller writes to Alexander Graham Bell 214Index 221

‘Colin Salter’s celebration of the humble letter is an insightful examination of the power of communication.’