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The last American aristocrat : the brilliant life and improbable education of Henry Adams / David S. Brown.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Scribner, 2020Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First Scribner hardcover editionDescription: xi, 451 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781982128234
  • 1982128232
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction -- Preface: Back to Beverly -- Becoming Henry Adams. Inheritance ; Education ; Illusions ; Boston ; Washington -- Performing Henry Adams. Flight ; Fury ; Dynamo ; Resonance.
Summary: 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.Summary: "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.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library Biography ADAMS, H. B877 Available 33111009769023
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography ADAMS, H. B877 Available 33111010437958
Total holds: 0

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.

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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 395-423) and index.

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