author
Henry Dwight Sedgwick
1861–1957
A Harvard-trained lawyer who became a prolific American man of letters, he wrote vivid biographies and thoughtful books on history, culture, and character. His work ranges from classical figures like Horace and Marcus Aurelius to Renaissance Italy and the life of Ignatius Loyola.
1 Audiobook
A Short History of Italy (476-1900)
by Henry Dwight Sedgwick
About the author
Born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1861, he was educated at Harvard and trained for the law, practicing in New York before building a long career as an author. He came from the well-known Sedgwick family and was the brother of editor Ellery Sedgwick.
His books show a wide curiosity about the past. He wrote biographies of Horace, Marcus Aurelius, and Ignatius Loyola, as well as works on Italy in the thirteenth century and on the idea of the gentleman. The range of his subjects suggests a writer drawn to moral character, public life, and the way personality shapes history.
He lived a very long life, dying in 1957 at the age of 95. Today he is remembered chiefly for his historical and biographical writing, which aimed to make major figures and earlier eras feel approachable to general readers.