Democracy: An American Novel

by Henry Adams, Earl N. Harbert (Introduction)

Overview

Published in 1880, this perceptive picture of Washington's inner circles is as compelling and timely today as it was 100 years ago.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143039808
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/29/2008
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1120L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Henry Adams (1838-1918) was an American historian and memoirist. Born in Boston, Adams was the grandson of statesman and lawyer John Quincy Adams on his father’s side. Through his mother, he was related to the Brooks family of wealthy merchants. Adams graduated from Harvard Universityin 1858 before traveling through Europe on a grand tour. Upon returning in 1860, he attempted to pursue a career in law but soon found himself working as a journalist, first in Boston and then in London, where he was an anonymous correspondent for The New York Times while his father served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Lincoln. In 1868, Adams settled in Washington, DC, where he earned a reputation as a journalist against political corruption. By 1870, he embarked on a brief career as a professor of medieval history at Harvard, a position from which he would retire in 1877 to devote himself to his writing. In addition to his lauded nine-volume History of the United States of America (1801-1817) (1889-1891), Adams wrote the novels Democracy: An American Novel (1880) and Esther (1884). In 1907, his memoir The Education of Henry Adams appeared in print in a small, private edition. A decade later, just after his death at the age of 80, it found wider publication and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Recognized as an astute observer of cultural and historical change, Adams remains a controversial figure for his antisemitic views.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Democracy"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Henry Adams.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

[One] of the most perceptive books ever written about Washington.” —Maureen Dowd, The New York Times

“An entertaining tale of manners and an important meditation on democracy and its discontents—a narrative about politics that resonates even now, nearly 140 years after its first appearance.” —Jon Meacham, The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

[One] of the most perceptive books ever written about Washington.
— The New York Times

Maureen Dowd