The last American aristocrat : the brilliant life and improbable education of Henry Adams / David S. Brown.
By: Brown, David S. (David Scott) [author.].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Scribner, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First Scribner hardcover edition.Description: xi, 451 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781982128234; 1982128232.Subject(s): Adams, Henry, 1838-1918 | Adams, Henry, 1838-1918 | Historians -- United States -- Biography | Authors, American -- Biography | Authors, American | Historians | United StatesGenre/Form: Biography. | Biographies. | Biographies.Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
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Book | Haddon Twp. | Biography | Adult | B Ada (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000010399231 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A revelatory biography of literary icon Henry Adams--one of America's most prominent writers and intellectuals of his era, who witnessed and contributed to the United States' dramatic transition from a colonial society to a modern nation.
Henry Adams is perhaps the most eclectic, accomplished, and important American writer of his time. His autobiography and modern classic The Education of Henry Adams was widely considered one of the best English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century. The last member of his distinguished family--after great-grandfather John Adams, and grandfather John Quincy Adams--to gain national attention, he is remembered today as an historian, a political commentator, and a memoirist.
Now, historian David Brown sheds light on the brilliant yet under-celebrated life of this major American intellectual. Adams not only lived through the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution but he met Abraham Lincoln, bowed before Queen Victoria, and counted powerful figures, including Secretary of State John Hay, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and President Theodore Roosevelt as friends and neighbors. His observations of these men and their policies in his private letters provide a penetrating assessment of Gilded Age America on the cusp of the modern era.
The Last American Aristocrat details Adams's relationships with his wife (Marian "Clover" Hooper) and, following her suicide, Elizabeth Cameron, the young wife of a senator and part of the famous Sherman clan from Ohio. Henry Adams's letters--thousands of them--demonstrate his struggles with depression, familial expectations, and reconciling with his unwanted widower's existence.
Presenting intimate and insightful details of a fascinating and unusual American life and a new window on nineteenth century US history, The Last American Aristocrat shows us a more "modern" and "human" Henry Adams than ever before.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 395-423) and index.
Introduction -- Preface: Back to Beverly -- Becoming Henry Adams. Inheritance ; Education ; Illusions ; Boston ; Washington -- Performing Henry Adams. Flight ; Fury ; Dynamo ; Resonance.
Illuminates the achievements of the nineteenth-century historian, writer, and intellectual, discussing Adams's relationships with political leaders inside and outside of his family and his witness to the dawn of modern America.
"Henry Adams is perhaps the most eclectic, accomplished, and important American writer of his time. His autobiography and modern classic The Education of Henry Adams was widely considered one of the best English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century. The last member of his distinguished family--after great-grandfather John Adams, and grandfather John Quincy Adams--to gain national attention, he is remembered today as an historian, a political commentator, and a memoirist. Now, historian David Brown sheds light on the brilliant yet under-celebrated life of this major American intellectual. Adams not only lived through the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution but he met Abraham Lincoln, bowed before Queen Victoria, and counted powerful figures, including Secretary of State John Hay, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and President Theodore Roosevelt as friends and neighbors. His observations of these men and their policies in his private letters provide a penetrating assessment of Gilded Age America on the cusp of the modern era." -- Inside front jacket flap.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introduction (p. 1)
- Prelude: Back to Beverly (p. 9)
- Part I Becoming Henry Adams
- Inheritance
- 1 Quincy (p. 15)
- 2 Party of One (p. 21)
- 3 The Madam (p. 25)
- 4 Heroes (p. 31)
- 5 Harvard (p. 37)
- Education
- 6 Germany (p. 47)
- 7 Italy (p. 55)
- 8 Washington (p. 63)
- 9 London (p. 71)
- 10 The Correspondent (p. 79)
- Illusions
- 11 Going South, Coming Home (p. 89)
- 12 The Race Question (p. 95)
- 13 Waiting on Another Washington (p. 101)
- 14 The High Road to Reform (p. 109)
- 15 Following the Money (p. 113)
- Boston
- 16 The Professor (p. 125)
- 17 The Insurgent (p. 133)
- 18 Clover (p. 139)
- 19 Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law (p. 147)
- 20 Political Adieu (p. 153)
- 21 Filial Piety (p. 161)
- 22 Emancipation (p. 167)
- Washington
- 23 Hearts Play (p. 175)
- 24 Gallatin (p. 181)
- 25 Democracy (p. 187)
- 26 Second Heart (p. 195)
- 27 Back to Bizarre (p. 201)
- 28 Between Science and Salvation (p. 207)
- 29 The New House (p. 215)
- 30 Empty Heart (p. 221)
- Part II Performing Henry Adams
- Flight
- 31 The Posthumous Life (p. 233)
- 32 Japan (p. 237)
- 33 The Historians Tale (p. 245)
- 34 Babes in Paradise (p. 255)
- 35 The First Law of Tame Cats (p. 265)
- 36 What the Sphinx Said (p. 273)
- Fury
- 37 Chicago (p. 283)
- 38 The Gold-Bugs (p. 289)
- 39 "My Cuba" (p. 297)
- 40 The Tyranny of Science (p. 303)
- 41 The Felt Experience (p. 309)
- 42 Blame (p. 313)
- Dynamo
- 43 The Jingo (p. 327)
- 44 Silent and Infinite Force (p. 333)
- 45 Lamb among Lions (p. 337)
- 46 In the Land of the Czars (p. 343)
- Resonance
- 47 None but the Saints (p. 351)
- 48 Stranded (p. 357)
- 49 Bocjk of Illusions (p. 365)
- 50 There Was a Boy (p. 373)
- 51 To Finish the Game (p. 379)
- 52 The Rest in Silence (p. 385)
- Acknowledgments (p. 393)
- Notes (p. 395)
- Index (p. 425)