Fire and Knowledge

There are very few letters from modern or living Americans. Numerous requests were sent out, and over and over came the response—there are no letters. From the brilliant economist Milton Friedman came an answer that clearly describes our contemporary predicament, “I am sorry to say I have [no letters] that I would be able to contribute. We have always been close to our children, have been able to communicate with them more directly by personal conversation, telephone calls, and the like so that we have no systematic collection of letters. Sorry.” Sorry indeed are we all and future generations may be sorrier still.

This raises the question of e-mail, as people have often asked if I would include electronic messages in the book. I made the decision that I would not. E-mail is efficient, inexpensive, and instantaneous, but it is not the same as sitting down and composing a letter. Letter writing is generally a thoughtful art and typing e-mail often is not.

—Dorie McCullough, Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children (2004), p. 2