Book excerpt: This book is the first-ever selected edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's letters--169 personal letters and eight letters written while Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American consul. Myerson carefully selected letters focusing on Hawthorne's relationship with famous people of the day: letters written to his wife, Sophia; letters describing everyday life in Salem, Boston, Concord, Britain, France, and Italy; letters in which Hawthorne comments on contemporary literature and his career as an author; and letters that reveal Hawthorne's thoughts and beliefs. Myerson's single-volume Selected Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne is a welcome addition to the twenty-three-volume Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (OSU Press)