1 Paste your biographical sketch here (maximum 500 words)
Considered the "acknowledged master of the biographical novel," Irving Stone has
written numerous works that make historical figures in both American and European
history come alive. Those Who Love is no exception. First published by Doubeleday in
1965, Those Who Love is the biographical novel depicting the love story and marriage
relationship of John and Abigail Adams, the second President and First Lady of the
United States.
Stone began writing Those Who Love in 1960, right after he and his wife, Jean
Stone, moved into the home they had built on 3 acres of land above UCLA. They were barely
moved in when Stone entered his studio and began work on Those Who Love. Like John and
Abigail Adams, Irving and Jean Stone had a very strong relationship. Jean Stone was a very
significant player in Irving Stone's literary career; she researched and edited 18 of Stone's
biographical novels. He loved her greatly and dedicated every single one of his books to his wife.
In 1998 Jean Stone was awarded the Hubert Howe Bancroft Award, the highest honor of the Bancroft
Library at UC -Berkeley ( Irving Stone was a Berkeley alum), for her work with her husband and her work
in editing and promoting the collecting of biography and history.
This book was written at the height of Stone's career. He had achieved
fortune, fame, and a reputation as an incredible author whose works had been published
in foreign countries and achieved much acclaim. While writing this book he was offered
a very powerful position on President Kennedy's Cabinet if he would " undertake certain tasks
for the Federal Government and the President." Stone refused, saying "I don't want to
become powerful. I just want to write books." During the time that Stone was writing
Those Who Love (1960-1965), much was happening politically and socially in American
history. The Civil Rights Movement was reaching a pivotal climax, America was zealous about
fighting the Communists, celebrating and promoting democracy, and redefining American popular culture.
Stone did not use his influence to get caught up in much of the politics of the time
but rather showed through the writing of a book like Those Who Love his belief that all of American
history is ?contemporary.' Stone's idea was to "make the people so alive, so sympathetic that the
readers will really understand the period because they lived it and live through the events
emotionally."
Stone really believed in the importance of research and that through that you
come to know a historical character better and better.This is very evident in Those Who
Love. This story of Abigail Adams is in Stone's words, "a true and documented story of
one human being's journey across the face of the years, transmuted from raw material
into the delight and purity of an authentic art form." To Stone, this was the job and the
definition of the biographical novel.
Stone's most recent work before Those Who Love was his masterpiece on
Michaelangelo, The Agony and the Ecstasy. The year that Those Who Love was first
published Stone was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of
Southern California, where he recieved his master's degree. Stone was also honored with
the Giglia d' Oro, which is the golden lily of Florence, for his "distinguished service to
our Renaissance City," for the Agony and the Ectasy. Like Those Who Love, The Agony
and the Ectasy was also published by Doubleday as were subsequent works of Stone's.
Those Who Love did very well, it was a bestseller in 1965 and recieved acclaim
as another one of Stone's great works. As far as I know, the book was not performed in
any other media and Stone was not involved. Those Who Love is another example of Stone's amazing
adherence to historical detail as well as his overall passion for showing the depth of historical figures
that often appear two dimensional in history textbooks. Those Who Love also displays Stone's ability to
make history intriguing and relevant to the general public as well as his general mastery of the historical
and biographical novel.