author
Henry Adams
1838–1918
Born into one of America’s most famous political families, he became a sharp-eyed historian and memoirist who often wrote with wit, skepticism, and unusual honesty. His best-known work, The Education of Henry Adams, turns a privileged life into a searching look at modern history and personal doubt.
14 Audiobooks
Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 1 (of 9) : During the first administration of Thomas Jefferson
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 4 (of 9) : During the second administration of Thomas Jefferson
by Henry Adams
The Education of Henry Adams
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 5 (of 9) : During the first administration of James Madison
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 7 (of 9) : During the second administration of James Madison
by Henry Adams
Democracy, an American novel
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 8 (of 9) : During the second administration of James Madison
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 3 (of 9) : During the second administration of Thomas Jefferson
by Henry Adams
History of the United States of America, Volume 6 (of 9) : During the first administration of James Madison
by Henry Adams
Esther
by Henry Adams
The Life of Albert Gallatin
by Henry Adams
About the author
Raised in Boston as a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Henry Brooks Adams was born on February 16, 1838, and graduated from Harvard in 1858. During the American Civil War he served in London as private secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, who was the U.S. minister to Britain.
He went on to build a reputation as a historian, journalist, novelist, and cultural critic. Among his major works are the nine-volume History of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison and the novel Democracy. He is especially remembered for The Education of Henry Adams, a memoir published near the end of his life that reflects on politics, knowledge, change, and the unsettling speed of the modern world.
Adams died in Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1918. Although he never held the kind of public office associated with his family name, his writing gave him a lasting place in American literature and historical thought.