Customer Reviews (4)

Good adventure reading, but...
This is a great story and an easy read; its value lies in "wanting" to believe it is true. To consider the ends to which the human spirit and body is capable of being pushed makes it truly a worthy read.

That being said, there are parts of the book that evoke my skepticism. His relationship with the camp commandant and being left alone with his wife seems unlikely; the 30 mile-a-day trek across the Gobi Desert sans water and over the Himalaya without winter gear defies my belief.References to sighting the yeti creatures did little to add to this human adventure.

I think the weakness of this writing lies in the journalistic approach to the tale. We are fed a who, what, why, when, how story that lacks any real emotional content. I would suggest that this book be read and then compared with Antoine De Saint Exupery's book "Wind, Sand and Stars" to compare the emotional kick.

Top of the list for a reason
This book has been at the top of many lists of books and frequently made reference to in other great books that are also on great book lists. Finally, my book group decided to read it and I had an excuse. It turns out the book is much more of an effort than we thought but well worth it none the less. I like to use these reviews as a convenient place to keep my notes on the book and usually that would include great quotes. But with this book the number of keepers would be almost as large as the book itself.What a wry wit HA must have had! He was also sly to present himself as constantly failing in finding education except where it was a surprise and stressing the Harvard type as he does in the chapter by that name. It sets the character type that he plays as his and represents that as the ideal Harvard man but in some of the wriest terms. It is hilarious. This ideal type turns out to be a main focus of the autobiography. But very interesting is the way this is written from the point of view of the educated older man looking back and accounting for a life that still reflects the perspective of the child, adolescent, and adult, which was full of meetings with folks like the British Earl Russell and J.S. Mill, Americans like Secretary Seward, not to mention his own father and the Presidents - such that he assumed as a child that everyone would eventually be president, Italians like Garibaldi, such a life - jam packed with the important folks of the day. If HA had taken the tack of stressing the importance of his endeavors and experiences he would have come across as an unabashed egotist. But by decrying his abilities, education, and experience, the book becomes endearing and heartwarming. A joy to read. But some of the great quotes I noted were these: p. 55 "The chief wonder of education is that it does not ruin everybody concerned in it, the teachers and the taught." On Harvard but education in general? "...he, like the rest of mankind that accepted a material universe, remained always an insect or something much lower -- a man." P. 63 and p. 78 "The German government did not encourage reasoning." p. 192 "Everyone had heard of Mrs. Grote as "the origin of the word grotesque.". or p. 193 "The young American who should adopt English thought was lost. From the facts, the conclusion was correct, yet, as usual, the conclusion was wrong." Many more are worth noting but passed while I was nowhere near a computer.

The New Standard
I have just had a chance to look at this book.It is obviously a labor of love.

Long one of my favorites, this edition is the new standard.

It should be read by all lovers/students of American literature/culture.

best of available
If you have any interest in this subject, then this version is the best available. It has been carefully edited to reflect the original version and has an excellent introduction. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (14)

Be Sure to Read the Epilogue
Think of this not as a review; those by Ronald H. Clark and Robin Friedman are thoughtful, thorough and well worth your time, but as an incidental observations formed from reading this fine book from cover to cover.

First.Wills' erudition, scholarship and accessible style suggest that he may see himself as something of a 21st Century Henry Adams. I have no doubt that Henry Adams would approve of the comparison.

Second. In the Epilogue Wills directly confronts the view of the strict constructionists on the present U.S. Supreme Court (Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Scalia and Alito) that the original intent of the Framers must be treated as controlling regardless of the changes that have taken place in our country since the late 18th Century. As Wills points out,no sooner was the ink dry on the Constitution than Madison, "who drew up the rough document" said that "it was a first effort that should be 'liquidated' (clarified) in practice." As Wills puts it "It was like a blueprint that should be a guide but not a prison to contractors working from it."

Third, Wills makes the point in the Epilogue that Washington "is the least studied Founder in terms of what he thought" but "had a profounder understanding of what was needed and how to supply it than anyone else in the early period."

Garry Wills on Henry Adams on Jefferson and madison
Garry Wills recent book, Henry Adams and the Making of America, is a must read for anyone interested in Jefferson and Madison and their administrations.I myself have read several books on these men and their times, and I was dumbfounded by how little I understood until I read this book.Wills believes it is an academic scandal that prominent historians and others have neglected Henry Adams nine volume history of our government from 1801-1817.He explains in detail how Adams layed out the events of that time and how they transformed America.It was a close run thing, as our government came close to disintegration in the midst of the War of 1812.

Adams rediscovered and recovered
Very good recap of Adam's classic multi-volume "History of the United States During the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison."Wills de-revisionizes the historian's viewpoint of Adams that he was an apologist for the Presidents in his family and for New England, and anti-Republican and anti-Southern.

Wills show how Adams, instead of attacking the Republican Virginians Jefferson and Madison or claiming that they discredited themselves by turning into Federalists, traced the United States in their hands growing beyond those labels into a "nation".

And Wills reminds us of the quality of Adam's writing, his groundbreaking archival research, and his international focus.Many historians of the period, especially of the events leading up to and during the War of 1812, focus just on events at home, while Adams shows through his deep archival research in England, France, and Spain that many of these events were driven by events abroad.

Having read Will's summary and analysis, your reading of the originals will be richly rewarded.See my reviews here:

History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)
History of the United States During the Administrations of James Madison (Library of America)

Interesting look at 3rd and 4th presidencies (4.2 *s)
This book examines the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison as seen through the eyes of Henry Adams and his nine volume history written in the later nineteenth century. It is an attempt to rescue Adams' history from the dust bin, claiming that it has been misinterpreted by even academics who have failed to appreciate its uniqueness and incisiveness. The author makes much of the fact that Adams was one of the first historians to base his work on archived material. The fact that he was from the prominent Adams family and had posted to England during the Civil War as a deputy to his father facilitated his access to materials as well as an interest in history.

Foreign relations dominated the early nineteenth century with the US being forced to deal with European hostilities, especially the impact of Napoleon. Also, the expansionistic tendencies of Americans butted up against the North American presence of Spain, France, and England at various times. Adams was mindful of personalities, ineptitude, and miscommunications both with foreign offices and within US government circles, especially the cabinets. Jefferson was in a fairly constant tiff with Chief Justice Marshall over such issues as John Adams packing the federal judiciary with Federalist judges, impeachments, and the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. The War of 1812 was the single most important event of the era beginning with the antagonisms engendered by Jefferson's and Madison's Embargo Act of 1807.

Both Wills and Adams remark on the irony of small government Republicans accruing sufficient national government powers to survive against European powers. They find the pragmatism of Jefferson to exceed any ties to ideology.

A mild criticism of the book is that it attempts to be both a work of history itself as well as commentary about a book concerning the same period. The narrative gets a little bumpy at times. There does seem to be a shortage of good histories of this particular period, unlike the last twenty-five years of the previous century. So it is a welcome book. It's doubtful that it would inspire many to pick up Adams' original work, however.

Thankfully I never read Adams'History
Garry Wills has relieved me of any possible guilt for never having read Henry Adams' History of the United States.It appears to be a boring piece of work.The attempt to show how events in Adams' life led him to take certain positions about events in the period 1800-1816 only creates difficulty in reading and makes the whole enterprise very unpleasant.I did enjoy Adams' comments on the two Adams presidents, both of whom were martinets.But my biggest reaction is to the incompetence of both Jefferson and Madison, even though they did accomplish many things despite their intentions.When we today see the inability of our leaders to do any good or avoid evil we often think back to the wonderful presidents we had in the beginning.Well, they weren't so wonderful after all.Jefferson was an accomplished intellectual but a pretty mediocre president.The foreign policies of Jefferson and Madison demonstrate childishness and arrogance in the face of European sophistication and experience.It is perhaps a miracle this country ever survived in such hands. ... Read more

Product Description
The major works of Henry Adams, one of the most powerfulwriters of the late nineteenth century, collected in one volume forthe first time. Contains "The Education of Henry Adams" and "MontSaint Michel and Chartres," his remarkable works of nonfictioncombining philosophical and historical speculation withautobiographical musings on his famous heritage. Also includes his twonovels of American politics and religion, "Democracy" and "Esther." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Democracy, Esther, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, The Education of Henry Adams
I would probably love it but...

YOU SENT THE WRONG BOOK, a variation on the title which I had ordered.
I had purchased it as a birthday party gift, so I gave it anyway, as I didn't have time to get another gift.
I complained about it in your review request.
Amazon would not publish my complaint because they requested a chance to "remedy the situation", first.
They offered to send me a partial refund.
I never received it.

You can make it better: Send me the correct book, and you can forget the refund.

Henry Adams
I believe that Henry Adams was an extraordinary visionary and interpreter of the developing world in his age. His interpretation and studies of 12th century religion is fir me deeply inspirational.His writings about Chartes and Mont Saint Michel are a unique gift to our religious understandings.

Henry Adams, Democracy, Esther, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, The Education of Henry Adams
Henry Adams should be required reading for all US students.This version of his writings - Library of America series includes all his best writings in a small book.Amazon delivered as agreed.

Greatest hits
The Library of America is one of the best organizations.Here at last are both novels, his interesting autobiography, and Mont St Michel all under one roof.

"Democracy" is one of the best political novels of all time and speaking as a denizen of the nation's capital, very little has changed.Esther is attempt deal with the "woman question."Clearly the inspiration of both books is Mrs. Henry Adams.Known as "Voltaire in petticoats" (Henry James), she later tragically took her own life following a period of depression.The death of his wife led to Henry Adams' retirement from public life.This subject is covered in Ernest Samuels' wonderful biography (which I also recommend).

I suggest a look at his biography since the subject of Marion Clover Adams is avoidedentirely in "The Education of Henry Adams." Henry Adams may not discuss his wife, but he does touch on nearly everything else of importance in his autobiography."Growing up Adams," life in Europe with Garibaldi's forces, life at the British legation in London during the Civil War are all addressed.The best and probably the most key chapter in the book is the one entitled "The Virgin and Dynamo."Adams uses the 1876 cenntenial fair as a departure to meditate of the impact of theindustrial revolution. Adams believed with the growth of technology that man would somehow outgrow the simple humanity of the Middle Ages (it would have been interesting if Adams had lived long enough to meet someone like Carl Jung to see what he would have to say on this subject!). One of the foremost historians (the Library of America has also issued the history of Jefferson and Madison's Administrations, which is a classic), Adams became interested in the Middle Ages and his survey of the two great cathedrals of France Chartes and Mont St. Michel is the final book in the volume.I cannot recommend this book too highly, it is a must for all fans of Henry Adams and those who would like to experience him for the first time.

one of the most brilliant minds in American literature
While Adams novels (Democracy and Esther) may be lightweight, the other two works included in this volume are two of the best non-fiction American books ever.Adams has the kind of intellect that seems capable ofencompassing everything.Like Joseph Campbell or Harold Bloom, Adams oftenleaves the reader in awe of how much he knows and how he is able to makethe connections that so clearly illuminate everything he touches upon. This is one of my favorite volumes in the Library of America series, and Iknow that anyone who appreciates intelligence, wit, and charm in a writerwill enjoy reading it. ... Read more

Product Description
The works of Henry Adams in one collection with an active table of contents.

Works include:
Democracy: An American Novel
The Education of Henry Adams
Esther: A Novel
Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Henry Adams does it!
This volume and its sister on the Administrations of James Madison are both excellent! The prose style is flawless; the volumes are so readable that the narrative carries you along without any consciousness of effort on your part. The research, even though done long ago, holds up well even today. James was one of the first to do a lot of research in archives around the world and the facts are well-researched. The diplomatic history of these administrations is subtle and detailed.

Contrary to the view of some historians, the work is not an Adams family attack on Jefferson and Madison. In fact, quite the contrary. He gives what I consider a balanced view of their admininstrations. Jefferson is a more exciting character than Madison and therefore the first volume of the two has more sparkle in that regard, but you come away with a clear view of what they were trying to accomplish, how they succeeded or failied, and what it all means.

The early chapters on America in 1800 are the clearest and most concise review of what America was in 1800, before these administations began. That America was transformed by the events that occurred in these sixteen years goes without saying.

The account of the activities of Aaron Burr is a little masterpiece, worth the cost of the book in itself.

I give these books five stars each.

Adams himself is a fascinating subject.

History of The United States During The Administrations of Thonas Jefferson
This is a very thorough examination of the US from 1801-1809. It was written in the 1880's but is fairly easy to read. It's very interesting to see the political discussions going on 200 years ago, particularly when it's being discussed 100 or so years ago.

Classic American History
The first volume of Adams' History of the United States, covering both Jefferson administrations, should be read by anyone with a deep interest in early American history. Adams' style might be deemed archaic, or perhaps even boring by some modern readers, but this history is so tightly packed with information, so compelling in its story line and so derivative of archival information, rather than secondary material, that it probably should be considered the first of all works on Jefferson. There is material in here you simply can not find in the works of other authors; even Dumas Malone.

While it is certainly arguable that Adams was fighting his ancestors' political battles in his work, his unprecedented scholarship in American history puts the burden of so arguing on the claimant. My own opinion is that Adams was merely fair and delved deep, and this approach is not always appreciated when dealing with our forefathers. Some would just rather not know.

Like other great works, right from the beginning, Adams will arouse your interest in not just Jefferson, but also other historical characters of whom you might not have even heard before.

Adams continued his history with the Madison Administration, which continued the unparalleled research and writing, and I equally recommend it with one caveat. Much of that second work, which is even longer, was naturally devoted to the War of 1812 and is quite descriptive when it comes to ships, troops and their movements. For example, he frequently gives detailed measurements of ships, even compares those about to do battle, and lists the troops in each battle, how many killed, wounded, etc. Much of this detail might bore many modern readers, but, some will find the depth of material refreshing and fulfilling. I expect those reading this will know which they are.

For that reason, if you find David McCullough books about as hard as you want to work in delving into history (and I'm not slighting him; just comparing styles) do not waste your time with this book - you won't finish half of it. If, however, you've read someone like Will Durant and enjoyed bathing in the detail, or you want to know as much about Jefferson's presidency as possible without sitting in the Library of Congress for years yourself, you will share my convictions as to the value of this absorbing work.

Celebration of American fragility and survival
Adams' great history is a reminder of the fragility of the American experiment, and the enduring miracle of the survival of the Union during those formative years.

Garry Wills' recent resurrection of the Adams' histories (see my review at Henry Adams and the Making of America) spurred me to go back to the originals of which this is the first half (see my review of History of the United States During the Administrations of James Madison (Library of America)).I was struck by

--the condescension of British and French diplomats to the admittedly brash and bathetic American efforts.

--the barefaced treason of Aaron Burr, and how nearly he succeeded.

--the equally bold treasonous threats by the New England states (twice during Jefferson's terms) to secede, a fact often conveniently forgotten by Northerners quick to blame the South for the Civil War.

--Napoleon's"shock and awe" political leadership that managed the stage of world politics, diplomacy and war for two decades.

My favorite book EVER
Its not going to win reviews as a paper back book. This is the best history book I have ever read. I have looked at some of the reviews here stating its too long. I would have liked it longer, it is a serious history book to make is shorter would remove some very important facts regarding our history. Well put together and edited. If I could I would give it 10 stars. This is a must read for any teacher who calls him or herself a history teacher, However sadly I doubt many of our public school teachers have ever read it. ... Read more

Product Description
Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres is undoubtedly Adams's greatest work; though not apparently related to his earlier writings, this inspired work of poetry is the crowning achievement of his severe and somber historical oeuvre. Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres was an extended essay by Henry Adams, printed privately in 1904 and commercially in 1913. It is subtitled A Study of Thirteenth-Century Unity. Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres is best considered a companion to the author's autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams (1918). In Chartres, he described the medieval world view as reflected in its cathedrals, which he believed expressed "an emotion, the deepest man ever felt--the struggle of his own littleness to grasp the infinite." Adams was drawn to the ideological unity expressed in Roman Catholicism and symbolized by the Virgin Mary; he contrasted this coherence with the uncertainties of the 20th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Bit of a surprise
Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres is not a "fun" read as advertised. (The Education of Henry Adams was.) I used my imagination as suggested in the intro but still, Chartres reads more like a very intense, detailed short course in architecture, history, philosophy, and religion.Good if that is what the reader is looking for.

unusable
This book was printed in response to my order,i.e., on demand, and the type chosen was so small I did not even attempt to read it.There were no illustrations.
I subsequently bought a used copy of the paperback edition which included a brilliant preface, the illustrations, and an exponentially easier format.
I threw away the copy purchased from Amazon.
Probably my only truly disappointing encounter with Amazon.

for the ASIN 1604241438 edition
This review is ONLY for the edition noted above. Most editions of this book are facsimiles of earlier editions. You can download the book from google for free. Exact same text and layout. I ordered this item (the ASIN 1604241438 version) twice at $4.96 (I see now its about $15) and both times the cover arrived rather bent. The reprint is worth 5 dollars, because it is just a bound version of the PDF you could download from google.

Thoughtful idiots
In the ancestral shadow of Adams's great study of these two cathedrals of France, which he extends to amplify the doctrines of the 11th and 13th centuries in which they were built, we who live today must look on as thoughtful idiots.We think we understand God and man, theology and science, in deeper modern ways than available to Abelard and Aquinus, Francis and Bernard.We may be thoughtful, but we stand as idiots (Adams writing in the fin de seicle of the 19th century calls us, more politely, "tourists") before the monumental architecture of these ancients.

So how to classify Mont Saint Michel and Chartres?The first is to consider it an architectural study of the cathedrals for laymen, which is the nominal topic.But Adams quickly lets the reader know with a wink and a nod that this will be about more--or more accurately, about the architecture as a mirror of the living (in the stones) theology of the age.Particularly in the study of the cathedral at Chartres, Adams finds the driving influence of the Virgin Mary in the architecture, even to the level of the engineering and project management, as we know these disciplines in the vulgar vernacular (surely there is nothing of theology in project management!) of our day."At Chartres, one sees everywhere the Virgin, and nowhere any rival authority; one sees her give orders, and architects obey them, but very rarely a hesitation as though the architect were deciding for himself." (p. 108 of this edition).

Mariolatry--the worship of Mary--drives the architecture of the age (a drive and a worship that Adams will famously and with precise accuracy later predict to be utterly replaced by "the Dynamo", the electric generator, in the 20th century)."All this is written in full, on every stone and window of this apse, as legible as the legends to anyone who cares to read," writes Adams on p. 154.As Adams ventures into the theology of grace, the Trinity, Mary, and sin, he summarizes the dilemma this way:

"The fact, conspicuous above all other historical certainties about religion, that the Virgin was by essence illogical, unreasonable and feminine, is the only fact of any ultimate value worth studying, and starts a number of questions that history has shown itself clearly afraid to touch.Protestant and Catholic differ little in that respect. . . Why were all the Protestant churches cold failures without her help?Why could not the Holy Ghost,--the spirit of Love and Grace,--equally answer their prayers? Why was the Son powerless?Why was Chartres Cathedral in the thirteenth century--like Lourdes today--the expression of what is in substance a separate religion?Why did the gentle and gracious Virgin Mother so exasperate the Pilgrim Father?Why was the Woman struck out of the Church and ignored in the State?These questions are not antiquarian or trifling in historical value; they tug at the very heartstrings of all that makes whatever order is in the cosmos." - p. 246

Unfortunately, Adams continues for another 110 pages wading away from the architecture and luminous insights like these deep into the swamps of doctrinal disputes that attempted to answer these great questions he posed here, and the book loses its momentum and its fifth star.Nevertheless, this is prose worth tasting and savoring from the first (and still) great historian and writer of the unfolding 20th century.

A Great Book about a Great Civilization during the Middle Ages
Henry Adams' MONT SAINT MICHEL AND CHARTRES (MSMC) is simply a great book.Adams' lucid writing styleand his insights are impressive, and this book should be read by every supposedly "educated" individual.Adams deals with complex topics such as Gothic Architecture, Medieval poetry and mysticsim, and Scholastic Philosophy with clarity and ease.

The early sections of MSMC compare the church of Mont Saint Michel with the Catholic view of St. Michel who was militant and was the perfect example of the Medieval hero defending the Catholic Church against all enemies.The comparison with this church with that of Chartres which was the examplar of God's mercy via St. Mary is insighful and facinating reading.

Such embellishment of St. Mary or Notre Dame(Our Lady)is further investigated in Adams book by Adams' careful treatment of Medieval Poetry.Adams's translations of Medieval French and Latin are good and give those who are not familiar with these languages a better understanding of both the poetry and the Medieval devotion to St. Mary.

Much of this peotry was mystical, and Adams demonstrates the attempt of St. Francis and the Franciscans to use such mystical thought in their missionary efforts to help the very poor.St. Francis' mysticism is revealed in Adams' translation of St. Francis' poem titled BROTHER SUN AND SISTER MOON.

Henry Adams then compares and contrasts Medieveal mysticism, which bordered on Pantheism, with Scholastic Philosophy.Adams gives the reader an insight to scholastic debate when he summarizes the debate between William of Champaux and Peter Abelard(1079-1142).Here Adams demonstrates his understanding of how students and masters argued and learned.He also shows the careful balence the Catholic authorities tried to impose between reasoned debate and heresy.

The last section of the book deals with the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).Adams careful treatment of Aquinas' thought is worth the price of the book.Adams gives the Angelic Doctor high praise for both his clear thinking and liberality.Adams also effectively deals with the liberality of the Medieval Catholic authorities who canonized so many men whose views were apparently contradcitory.

Henry Adams' MONT SAINT MICHEL AND CHARTRES is intellectual history at its best.The book deals with complex ideas and views in an attractive literary style which holds the readers' interest.This reviewer has read this book numerous times since he first read it in 1968 and has never found the book to be boring.Readers should also read Thomas Woods HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT WESTERN CIVILIZATION and compare Woods sections on the High Middle Ages with Adams' book. ... Read more

Product Description
This concise supplement to Adams' The Education of Henry Adams helps students understand the overall structure of the work, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A guide to all the obscure references in Adams's masterpiece
In "New Essays on The Education of Henry Adams" (a collection published by Cambridge UP), literary scholar John Carlos Rowe admits that "The baffling multitude of historical characters, significant events, and political currents has generally been the first obstacle to the reader's involvement in this narrative.... it still amazes me that readers helped turn a book of such difficult historical references into a classic."

And so I was about two-thirds of the way through "The Education of Henry Adams" when I threw in the towel and admitted that, if I hoped to finish the work, I too needed a guide to all the obscure events and even more obscure personalities referred to by Adams in his otherwise remarkable book. This purchase was actually my first-ever exposure to the CliffsNotes series--and I was pleasantly surprised.

Written by Stanley Baldwin, this short handbook offers a chapter-by-chapter overview of the "Education," delivers the necessary historical and biographical background, and highlights the work's important themes. This is no condensed version, however; you won't feel like you've read "The Education of Henry Adams" after you're gone through this booklet. Instead, Baldwin gives the reader just enough information to understand Adams's work, and he wisely leaves many of the most interesting episodes and all of Adams's clever observations and witty quips for readers to discover on their own.

Although some of the presentation is a bit repetitive for a 100-page booklet (and this approach, I gather, is emblematic for the titles in this series), this is a solid, useful, and inexpensive introduction for readers like myself who might otherwise enjoy the "Education" if they weren't constantly flummoxed by the insider references and historical arcana Adams tosses along the way. ... Read more

Product Description
The tragic love story of Clover and Henry Adams and their brilliant life in the Gilded Age. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Masculinity and art
In TOM AND JACK, Henry Adams, one of the creative contributors to the documentaryKen Burns' America: Thomas Hart Benton, takes a close look at the influence of Thomas Hart Benton on perhaps the greatest American artist of the twentieth century, Jackson Pollock. In this rich and insightful dual portrait, Adams first must rehabilitate Benton's reputation as a prolific, dynamic, and socially progressive realist who rose to fame as a WPA mural painter. Adams looks at Benton's expatriate experiences in Paris, the influence of the now forgotten school of Synchromism on his sense of dynamism, and examines Benton's eventual decline (dismissal really) in the eyes of fellow artists and east coast intellectuals. As a teacher at the Art Students League in New York, Benton enjoyed being an iconoclastic influence on his mostly male students. Pollock and Pollock's brothers, also artists, were part of this group. Although Benton and Pollock were quite different in many ways (Benton was quite learned and well read while Pollock was inarticulate, if not exactly illiterate), they were both highly driven artists who never really felt themselves to be artworld insiders. Adams is at his best when analysing the men's artwork, but he is equally comfortable exploring the psychology of their relationship. Since Pollock spent a good deal of time in psychotherapy, Adams's marshalling of Freudian and Jungian psychoanalytical theories as practiced in mid-century America is not out of place, and his presentation of Pollock's relatiohip with Benton and Benton's wife Rita as classically Oedipal is convincing.

In the first part of the book, Adams reveals the abstraction within Benton's realistic paintings; in the second part, he exposes the figurative and orderly elements hidden in Pollock's masterpieces. "It's telling," Adams writes, "that Pollock considered Einstein and Freud the two most important figures of modern times: one delved into the structure of the universe, the other into the structure of the unconscious. The power of Pollock's great drip paintings is that they seem to explore both these mysterious realms" (p. 324).

The book contains 16 pages of color reproductions, but I found it helpful to also consult Ellen Landau's Jackson Pollock, with its exquisite color plates of all of Pollock's major works. (I couldn't find anything comparable for Benton.) TOM and JACK also helped me to better understand Ed Harris's well-made but often elliptical film Pollock. Adams packs a lot into his 400-page dual biography. Its scholarship is well-considered and never bogs down the narrative; TOM AND JACK is a book I'm sure I'll return to again and again as I continue to study and enjoy the work of these two great American artists.

a really interesting book
This is simply a facinating book. It informs without overwhelming the reader on the line of influence from the Synchomists to Benton and on to Pollock in a logical way. The book is well written and captures the personalities of the various characters- and they were really characters- along the way from Willard Wright aka S.S. Van Dyne, Albert Barnes,Benton and his family and Pollock and his.

Excellent look at two great artists!
This book is the best book I've ever read on Jackson Pollock and the only book I've read on Thomas Benton.I've read many books on Jackson Pollock and they all always have about the same things to say, giving only little information into Jackson's relationship with Thomas Benton.This book goes in-depth into their relationship and the relationship between Jackson and Benton's wife, Rita.
I also read some things about Lee Krasner that I had never read before, in regards to her personality, her motives for her relationship to Jackson, and the way their relationship functioned.
This book also takes an in-depth look at Benton's life and his relationship with the art world.
This book is very well-rounded, well-thought out and insightful!I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in art, in Jackson Pollock and/or in Thomas Benton!

Engrossing and Enlightening
Henry Adams is a most knowledgable anddelightful biographer. I thought I knew a great deal about Thomas Benton and just a little about Jackson Pollock. In this engrossing book, Henry Adams succeeded in not only detailing the lives and works of both artists, but introduced me to the many other fascinating people whose lives were interspliced with theirs. No novelist could possibly create as many extraordinary characters and events as Mr. Adams manages to chronicle in this definitive work.I can't thank him enough for this insightful and delightful look into the lives of "Tom and Jack."

Pollock's#5 has his name hidden in it too!
It is great book with a blockbuster discovery - Jackson Pollock hid his name in the painting 'Mural'.
*NOTE: The most expensive painting of all-time (#5), ALSO has his name hidden in it! Rotate the piece 90 degrees left and you can see "Jackson" in huge yellow/white letters! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume, written in 1905 as a sequel to the same author's Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, was privately printed, to the number of one hundred copies, in 1906, and sent to the persons interested, for their assent, correction, or suggestion. The idea of the two books was thus explained at the end of Chapter XXIX: -Amazon.com Review
Many great artists have had at least intermittent doubts about their ownabilities. But The Education of Henry Adams is surely one of the fewmasterpieces to issue directly from a raging inferiority complex. Theauthor, to be sure, had bigger shoes to fill than most of us. Both hisgrandfather and great-grandfather were U.S. presidents. His father, arelative underachiever, scraped by as a member of Congress and ambassador to the Court of St. James. But young Henry, born in Boston in 1838, wasdestined for a walk-on role in his nation's history--and seemed alarminglyaware of the fact from the time he was an adolescent.

It gets worse. For the author could neither match his exalted ancestors nordismiss them as dusty relics--he was an Adams, after all, formed from thesame 18th-century clay. "The atmosphere of education in which he lived wascolonial," we are told,

revolutionary, almost Cromwellian, as though hewere steeped, from his greatest grandmother's birth, in the odor ofpolitical crime. Resistance to something was the law of New England nature;the boy looked out on the world with the instinct of resistance; fornumberless generations his predecessors had viewed the world chiefly as athing to be reformed, filled with evil forces to be abolished, and they sawno reason to suppose that they had wholly succeeded in the abolition; theduty was unchanged.

He was not, by any measure but his own, a failure. And the proof of thepudding is The Education of Henry Adams itself, which remains amongthe oddest and most enlightening books in American literature. It containsthousands of memorable one-liners about politics, morality, culture, andtransatlantic relations: "The American mind exasperated the European as abuzz-saw might exasperate a pine forest." There are astonishing glimpses ofthe high and mighty: "He saw a long, awkward figure; a plain, ploughedface; a mind, absent in part, and in part evidently worried by white kidgloves; features that expressed neither self-satisfaction nor any otherfamiliar Americanism..." (That would be Abraham Lincoln; the"melancholy function" his Inaugural Ball.) But most of all, Adams'sbook is a brilliant account of how his own sensibility came to be. Aliterary landmark from the moment it first appeared, theAutobiography confers upon its author precisely that prize he felthad always eluded him: success. --James Marcus ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

"His humor was glow, like iron at dull heat; his blow was elementary, like the thrash of a whale."
I'm half inclined to blame this book for choking up my reviewing agenda. It took me a very long time to read, and also a very long time to review. I found I needed quite a bit of time to capture my reading notes, and to try to come to terms with what I had read.

And, to be truthful, I'm not really sure I have succeeded. Despite all the time this book took me, and despite my notes, I'm not really sure I have the feeling I really read the thing. I feel as though I wish I had. But have been tested and found wanting-- or something like that.

This is an autobiography, and as a reader Adams' habit of describing himself in the third person is quite jarring. I suppose this is because it is still written like a journal, or an autobiography, which really are quite first person forms. Third person voice implies a measure of description, a kind of central point. Marrying the two kept causing me to draw myself out of the text, sputtering. I never really got used to it & had to relax again into it every time I picked it up at night.

The subject matter is fascinating. Unlike some of other reviewers, I was fascinated by the minutae of the time. I would have rather Adams had stayed with that material. The book jumps around quite a bit in his life, and I found myself making liberal use of both introduction and footnotes in order to sort out where I was.

He was a sad man, who mocked himself. The use of the third person voice seems to hold off any possibility of comfort or justification. I'm not sure if I really got a look of Adams as a man-- don't know enough about his life to judge. But it was a very vivid image of someone.

I'd recommend it, I suppose. With caveats. I'm still trying to get my head around it, to be honest.

I just don't enjoy it - is that wrong?
Who am I to say that this is not a great book? Numerous scholars have called it one of the best non-fiction books ever. But man, what a grind it is. Now that I've plowed through about half of the book, I'm throwing in the towel.

To my tiny, contemporary brain, this book is hopelessly ponderous and self-indulgent. The constant use of the third person and the education theme wore thin in the initial chapters. Perhaps I've misread him, perhaps he's poking fun at himself, but the author sounds truly insufferable. Even when he's being self depricating, it rings false.

There are some interesting nuggets in this book, like the descriptions of the 1860's London social scene, a few witticisms, and some of his travel experiences as a young man. But, I felt that the effort I had to expend to dig to them was not worth it. The book is a tough trek, and your companion for the trip, Mr. James, makes it all the longer by prattling on, sneering at the unwashed masses, and bragging about his family.

Worth revisiting
I tried reading this book in my twenties.Couldn't do it.Too much of it was inaccessible to me.The book, which was written privately for his friends, assumes a certain knowledge of events that most readers, understandably, will not have.It also is deeply metaphysical and reflective and written from the perspective of someone who has lived a full and varied life, which, well, bored me.If I had written a review of it then, it probably wouldn't have been a very positive one.

But, when you're forty, half of you belongs to the past, as the saying goes, so I picked up this book again.I loved it.

Adams offers probably the best insight into the century that transformed America of any author from his time.He must have been astounded-especially given his revolutionary heritage-to witness the Sons of Liberty turn into empire builders, all within the span of a few generations.His political observations especially often are prescient.He saw, it seems, the coming of war in Europe and German nationalism.In fact, many of his observations in general are prescient, when they're not too inscrutable.

Not a book for everyone, but definitely a book worth visiting or revisiting, if you think you might be interested.

Would also recommend The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 and New England: Indian Summer, 1865-1915 by Van Wyck Brooks as companion pieces.

The Intellect and History of Henry Adams
The Kindle edition of THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS conveniently provides the reader the opportunity to read one of the most fascinating autobiographies that deciphers the history in which Henry Adams lived.Originally printed privately in 1907 but published in 1918 and later earning a Pulitzer Prize and accolades as the world's great autobiographies, the book is a long conversation, which stretches limitless boundaries and eclipses various topics from the history of science that included geology and anthropology as well as the humanities, history, literature, and philosophy.But one will also see Adams's inner qualities as a self-reflective, intelligent and narcissistic man.

Undoubtedly, Adams's narrative is a stark reflection of his life that was immensely enriched with history and buttressed between intellect and inquiry or so-called "galloping mind."With the mere fact that his great-grandfather was John Adams and his grandfather was John Quincy Adams, two of the most illustrious presidents in US history, and his father, Charles Francis Adams, served as President Lincoln's appointed American minister to the Court of St. James, there would be no escaping the political history that was engraved within his pedigree.Having lived throughout the nineteenth century and observing all aspects of history-in-the-making during the period of the Republic and the Gilded Age, Adams attempts to examine the most pivotal parts of history.However, as one reads, there is a somewhat limited and ambiguous quality of Adams's understanding of the East, which falls precisely under the category of the straight and narrow and highly romanticized and misconstrued.

After reading THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS, one may see that learning is a never-ending cycle.Although parts of the book appear dated, there is plenty of food for thought within his narrative that shows how Adams's education clearly resonates the most pinnacle part of intellectual history that was the Enlightenment.

And your point is ...?
I may be the very first person to make this comparison, but this book reminds me of the play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."In that play, the two title characters wander about the stage while great events are taking place, looking unsuccessfully for a role to play.By the end, of course, they are dead, and have learned nothing, influenced nothing, and contributed nothing.

I could easily describe "The Education of Henry Adams" with the exact same words (substituting the singular Henry Adams for the plural Rosencrantz and Guildenstern).

Adams did not intend the book to be a biography, and it certainly isn't, if only because it completely omits about twenty years of his life.And if it HAD been a biography, it would have been an unusually boring one, since he didn't lead a particularly interesting life.He didn't intend it to be a history book either, since he was not a close or first-hand observer of most of the significant historical events that occurred during his lifetime.The most important event during his lifetime was the Civil War, and he didn't even spend that time in the United States!

Adams apparently intended this book to be a book about education, but if he had anything noteworthy to say on the subject, I certainly missed it - and I'm an educator!In fact, after relating almost every event he chose to describe in the book, he ends up saying something like, "This did nothing to contribute to my education."

The last major event he talks about in the book is the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.After visiting the fair and seeing the prototypes of the new inventions that would dominate the social and technological changes in the developed world during the 20th century, he concludes that time has passed him by and that there will be no room for people like him in the future.The reader may well wonder why he didn't reach the same conclusion about the era in which he lived his life, since he seems to have stood outside the scene of action, puzzling over the meanings of the events.

If your interest is 19th-century American history, there are scores of better books.If your interest is in biography, there are hundreds, and probably thousands, of better biographies.If your interest is education, almost any competently written book ever written on the subject will be more thought-provoking than this one is.

And this is the greatest non-fiction book of the twentieth century?What on earth were people thinking? ... Read more

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The Modern Library's choice for the greatest non-fiction work of the twentieth century, The Education of Henry Adams is now available through Buki Editions! With a fully-functioning table of contents for ease of navigation! ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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Harlem is known throughout the world as the center ofAfrican-American history and culture in the United States. At the endof the nineteenth century, Harlem was an enclave of the upperbourgeoisie, and in the beginning of the twentieth century, itabsorbed a great number of new inhabitants displaced frommidtown. This era saw the Harlem Renaissance, in which a group ofartists, writers, and jazz musicians had an important role ininfluencing world popular culture. The same period saw a flourishingof architecture and design in beautiful houses, churches, apartmentbuildings, theaters, and commercial buildings. After a period ofdecline, largely due to state and federal neglect, Harlem is onceagain experiencing a revival. Author, preservationist, and Harlemresident Michael Henry Adams presents in this volume an architecturaland social history of Harlem, encompassing great periods of socialupheaval and change. Numerous architectural styles were employed bythe builders of Harlem, notably neo-Palladianism, and speciallycommissioned color photographs capture the area as its architectureand interiors are being lovingly restored. Harlem: Lost and Foundtells of the history and also of the present of this once ignored andnow vibrant metropolitan center. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Harlem as it once was and becoming again!
There was a 1900 picture of my old neighborhood a street I walked across everyday. I was shocked I learned so much about my old neighborhood , I sent my mother and aunt a couple. They both grew up in Harlem also.

Very Pleased
My book arrived in a timely manner. It was in excellant condition. Keep up this kind of customer service.

Jeepers, nice job Michael!
Wow, for once I find myself agreeing with Ian Fletcher - really great job, Michael.Every neighborhood should have a book like this - but only Harlem does! And, Michael, you're too sensitive about 1-800-Riverside - he/she made some reasonably fair criticisms - who among us are without sin? - but still endorses your book.

Hope you make a $million (Gianfranco Monacelli, are you listening?) - or at least enough for a computer.

Best,Christopher Gray

an extraordinary book
This great book comes forward to change forever our view of Harlem. It is a highly significant step toward informed appreciation of Harlem's architectural importance, cultural complexity, and the abundant variety and beauty of its singular places.No publication at this scale has yet been attempted for Harlem and the grand scope and close detail brought together here by this talented historian will raise the intelligence of the national sense of this unique cultural center never before served so well.Harlem is a household word -- across the globe -- and many may have felt that "our country's African American center" or "jazz incubator" or "home of black Congressional leadership" or some such positive phrase sums it up.Here is presentation of the whole, its place in shaping our revolutionary republic, its welcome to those arriving first from Europe, then from southern states as well as the Caribbean Islands, its heritage of architecturally glorious churches, its handsome houses -- and the innate preservationist sensitivity of each wave of residents who have kept this heritage of fine architecture so largely intact.The book presents these churches and houses through the superlative photographic studies contributed by Paul Rocheleau which bring the reader right into the sites so brilliantly described by Michael Adams.This fine collaboration opens eyes to the deeper meaning of carefully designed housing itself as well as how these churches stand witness to the care of their parishioners.Those viewing these pages far from Harlem will feel on site; those here will want to walk these streets with newly opened eyes. The book is a lifetime purchase and is itself one of the most significant Harlem events in years.

Harlem Lost?
Paul Rocheleau urged me not to worry about what I wrote stressing, "Most people only look at the pictures anyhow."Taking over ten years to research and write something, how tiresome it is to then be compelled to defend it.One is reluctant to do much beyond urging those who might disagree with what you've said to take a decade or two themselves and write their own work.After all no matter what one does or doesn't do the inadvertent error is sure to emerge.This was so for Galsworthy and for Langston Hughes.It will be for you as well.The Riviera Apartments, for instance, were designed by Rouse & Goldstone, not Schwartz & Gross.Mr. Charles Lovejoy is in fact Mr. Charles Loveday, and so it goes.It appears that Harlem Lost and Found will warrant a second printing at least, so thank goodness these mistakes and similar ones can be addressed.

What cannot be altered, however, is my understanding of Harlem's boundaries.Quite justifiably, I believe they can be identified as extending as far north as 168th St."Not For Tourists Guide to New York City 2003", sponsored by JPMorgan Chase Community Development Group, at least agrees to this hallowed region extending north as far as 160th St.Well, actually, they call the region south to 134th St. between Bradhurst Ave. and the Hudson River 'Manhattanville/Hamilton Heights'.However, surely these neighborhoods are agreed to be in Harlem, are they not?

Unashamedly, I concede that my book was driven by handsome buildings.But, throughout its publication from circa 1910 through 1934, Harlem Magazine, an all white journal, included the very same structures that I have located north of 155th St. in its pages.Things do change, of course.Attempting to dissect Harlem into a series of hierarchically class-based districts, many, by the 1890s, designated all Manhattan west of St. Nicholas Ave. and north of 135th St. as 'Washington Heights'.Already by the 1860s the appellation was used from 155th St. north.But this initial usage much like that of 'Carmansville' was meant, I believe, to identify a subsection of greater Harlem.Certainly, the Audubon, Knapp, and Hooper families continued to identify their address as Harlem much as today many residents of the officially named 'Clinton' continue to give their address as 'Hell's Kitchen'.

In any case, perhaps the old-fashioned but unfashionable race card trumps other considerations?Asked in the 1950s by Joe McCarthy where he lived, Ralph Ellison said 150th St. and Riverside Drive.He qualified his answer, though, noting that the area had once been regarded as 'Washington Heights'.But stated that from his experience, "Wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem."Surely this is the logic whereby the Audubon Ballroom and Theater, where Malcolm X was slain in 1965, was and continues to be identified as a Harlem landmark.No doubt, as more whites displace more blacks and Latinos throughout Upper Manhattan, Brian Keith Jackson's satirical references to name changes in the novel "The Queen of Harlem" will, in fact, occur more and more.It's this likelihood that makes me even more adamantly compelled to document the old understanding amongst blacks and many whites of what is Harlem.

How easy it is to regret what one has not done.If only I had a computer I might have addressed these issues earlier.If only I were more prosperous, I might have also included footnotes in Harlem Lost and Found and saved myself some grief.But as an author under contract to a small press it was difficult enough to pay for an index, I can assure you.As it was so dear, I especially wish the mystery reviewer at 800 RSD had consulted it.I reference Vaux & Withers twice.Once in relation to their Trinity Cemetery suspension bridge.Another time based on Francis R. Kowsky's 1980 monograph of Withers (Wesleyan University Press), on page 196, in the appended work list, I cite the George B. Grinnell house and stable on West 156th and 157th Sts. entered for 1869 and 1870.At no time, regarding this firm, do I ever mention either Mrs. John James Audubon or her dwelling.

As for my attribution of Audubon Park's ownership by George Bird Grinnell, on page 21 of the pamphlet "Audubon Park" published by the Hispanic Society in America in 1927 and reissued in 1987, a later George B. Grinnell relates of his relative, "Long before this, the greater portion of what had been Audubon Park, that is to say, all of it except the track where the old Audubon houses stand had become the property of a single owner, George B. Grinnell, from whose estate, in 1909, a large part of it passed into the hands of builders who covered much of it with tall apartment houses."

Similarly, so far as Jesse W. Benedict's earlier ownership of the park after 1864 goes, no less an historian than Audubon Park's own Reginald Pelham Bolton in his great book "Washington Heights, Manhattan, Its Eventful Past" asserts the same on page 111.

Regarding record sale prices at the Grinnell, the New York Times, it's true, might inflate values, but can I really be faulted for believing all the news that's fit to print?

Yes, indeed, whatever else it is, thanks mostly to Paul Rocheleau and designer Abigail Sturges, Harlem Lost and Found is a visual feast.Whatever its shortcomings, I hope that it is better written and researched than one critic suggests.Better than ever, I now appreciate the aphorism 'Some do, and others complain'.And anonymously, no less.Well, what can one say except God Bless America. ... Read more

Product Description
NOTE: This edition has a linked "Table of Contents" and has been beautifully formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your Amazon e-book reader or iPod e-book reader.

The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in early old age, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice.

Two aspects set The Education apart from the common run of autobiographies--it's narrated in the third person and it's frequently sarcastic and humorously self-critical. It's much more a record of Adams's introspection than of his deeds. It's an extended meditation on the social, technological, political, and intellectual changes that occurred over Adams's lifetime.

Adams concluded that his traditional education failed to help him come to terms with these rapid changes; hence his need for self-education. The organizing thread of the book is how the "proper" schooling and other aspects of his youth, was time wasted; thus his search for self-education through experiences, friendships, and reading.

Many aspects of the contemporary world emerged during the half-century between the Civil War and World War I, a half-century coinciding with Adams's adult life. An important theme of The Education is its author's bewilderment and concern at the rapid advance in science and technology over the course of his lifetime, sometimes now called Second Industrial Revolution.

He correctly predicted that the 20th century would see even more explosive changes. Adams repeatedly laments that his formal education, grounded in the classics, history, and literature, as was then the fashion, did not give him the scientific and mathematical knowledge needed to grasp the scientific breakthroughs of the 1890s and 1900s.

The Education repeatedly mentions two long-standing friends of Adams, the scientific explorer of the Far West, Clarence King, and the American diplomat, John Milton Hay.

Henry Adams' life story is rooted in the American political aristocracy that emerged from the American Revolution. He was the grandson of the American President John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of President and Founding Father John Adams. His father, Charles Francis Adams, had served as ambassador to the United Kingdom during the American Civil War, and had been elected to the United States House of Representatives.

The Education is an important work of American literary nonfiction--it provides a penetrating glimpse into the intellectual and political life of the late 19th century... ... Read more

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This book has DirectLink Technology built into the formatting. This means that we have made it easy for you to navigate the various chapters of this book. Some other versions of this book may not have the DirectLink technology built into them. We can guarantee that if you buy this version of the book it will be formatted perfectly on your Kindle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Warning: does NOT contain a Table of Contents as promised
Dear reader, I purchased this book because the description promised DirectLink technology and a guarantee that "if you buy this version of the book it will be formatted perfectly on your Kindle."

Well, to my surprise the book does NOT have a Table of Contents for the Kindle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Classic War of 1812
This volume consists of the chapters taken from Henry Adams lengthy History of the United States.Those chapters dealing with the War of 1812 have been excerpted from the multi-volume set and placed into single volume format here.This is a classic work of its kind, but it is not an easy read.Henry Adams goes into great deatail, and often engages in rhetorical discussions, a common trait of 19th century historians.His wide ranging views of the war brings to light many aspects often not covered in standard histories.This can be a plus as well as minus.Often Adams will go on and on about oragniaztionaland political aspects of the conflict which can seem dry to the modern reader.

Those looking for detailed descriptions of battles from the war will be somewhat disappointed. Adams does a lot to build up the background of each campaign or battle, but when it comes to the action itself he seems almost anti-climatic.Famous actions like Chippewa and Lundy's Lane are surprisingly short, even though the chapters are lengthy in discussing the admistrative and political aspects of the decision making and troop movements involved.

While Adams righly excoriates pitiful American leadership and imcompetence, he is always on the lookout for something positive to say as well.While Hull, Dearborn and Wilkinson are rightly seen as hopeless leaders, Adams also finds fault with Scott, Harrison and Jackson. The emphasis is naturally on the US perspective of the war, where insightful and often scathing observation is made on the inner workings of the Madison administration.British and Canadian strategy gets correspondingly less detail, although there is plenty of criticism of Proctor, Provost and Drummond among others.

There is a certain degree of national bias as most American historians have a hard time seeing how truly poor our performance was in this conflict.With Adams it comes down to Americans lacking discipline, but better at killing their enemies.The old American marksmenship fallacy.Adams believes that in most battles Americans inflicted greater losses. This is rather blatant bias here, because if we were to look at battles like Bladensburg we would find that British losses were greater because the Americans usually ran after firing a few good vollies! There were also many actions in which American losses were higher.In fact the overall body count was 8,000 US to 6,000 Anglo-Canadians in this war.Even with New Orleans thrown in US losses were greater overall!

This theory of better US markmanship has been put forward in regards to the American Revolutionary battles as well.Americans shot well until the British broke them and they ran.In breaking US troops the British usually had to assault and this is why they often took greater losses. For the British it was also hard to tell about the quality of the US troops opposed to them.In many actions US regulars and militia ran, and in others they fought well like Scott's Brigade.This spotty performance made it hard for the British to tell what kind of opposition they were up against.It resulted in their making some costly frontal attacks expecting that the Americans would break as usual.The US army can be best compared to the Spanish army of the Napoleonic period in this conflict. Overall poor, but with some good units, and largely indifferent leadership.

Some of the best chapters deal with the New Orleans 1814 Campaign in which Adams is highly critical of Jackson's actions, giving most credit to the US artillery for winning the action. Jackson's ruthless campaigns against the Creeks and Redsticks are described earlier in the book.Adams makes no appollogies for Jackson's cruelty toward the Indians, finding fault more with his organizational sloppiness than his genicidal tactics.PC readers today might certainly be upset with the Sang-Froid Adams uses to describe these events. Historians had a different emphasis in the past than they do today.

The final chapters describing the politics and personalities involved in the Peace of Ghent are also quite rewarding.It is fair to say that whatever American leadership lacked on the battlefield was more than made up for at the peace table. Readers will also find out a lot about the Federalists and their resistence toward the War in New England. The Hartford Convention is often mentioned only in passing with most works on this subject.

Adam's work is certainly worthwhile, and the style of writing combined with its analysis is not the kind of histography that we see much anymore.Readers will find some of the chatpters a difficult haul, but the rewards are many for those who persist. The War of 1812 came close to being a major US setback, it was certainly a debacle. That we managed to break even in the end was due more to luck than anything else.This work is a classic study which should be used in combination with more recent works.

Very Extensive
I just finished the book and as yet I have never read a book that paid such attention to detail as this one. The letters, the speeches the correspondence available in this book is second to none and were very interesting to say the least. The book does shoot off from time to time, it doesn't follow in line with events as it happened, but its all informative nonetheless.

My only issue with this book is that it omits the causes of the war of 1812, which was what I really wanted to know. The book starts with the first invasion as it may be said and goes on from there. Its really astounding at the amount of mistakes that were made in this war by the administration, especially on land, in the beginnings of the war and the unfortunate burning of Washington. And Adams is quick to add some humor in poking fun at the inconsistencies of the administration during this time.

I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in an extensive history of the war itself, most notably someone who is deeply interested in military history for it is very specific.

A close one for the U.S.
It is amazing that the US survived this conflict.The author's clear depiction of the politics and generalship (or lack thereof)leaves you wondering how the US ever made it out of this conflict relatively intact.This work is taken from Henry Adams great history that was originally published around 1890.The chapters relevant to the war of 1812 have been compiled to form a fine and detailed account of the war with Britain and Canada.

My only request for improvement would be the addition of an introduction that gives a clearer picture of the reasons for the conflict.

The Definitive History
In the introduction to this superb volume, Col John Elting, who has written his own version of the military history of this forgotten war, which is also a must have, states 'If you read only one history of thatwar, it still should be Adams!'

As a definite Elting fan, that is enoughfor me to buy, read, and use the book.It should also be enough for anyhistorian/reader to buy this volume.

An extract of the much larger AHistory of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson andMadison published almost a century ago, this history of a war the UnitedStates almost lost was originally published by the Infantry Journal at FortBenning, GA.It was, and still is, the best one volume history of thatwar.

Adams had access to US Government papers and spent almost threeyears in European archives, many of those references now unfortunately lostbecause of two world wars.What he gives you is both the military anddiplomatic side, and also some interesting views of the events interactionwith the larger 'disagreement' going on at the time in Europe centeringaround Napoleon, Emperor of the French.

What you see is what you get.Itis a great story, boldly and accurately told that has stood the test oftime.It is highly recommended, and the introduction by Col Elting neatlysays it all.The best purely military history is Col Elting's Amateurs! ToArms.Taken together they are incredible-two books you will never forgetand will read and reread. ... Read more

Product Description
Judged to be one of the greatest histories in English,this monumental work culminated Adams' lifelong fascination with theintertwined pasts of his family and his country. Carefully researchedand written in a strong, lively, and ironic style, the "History"chronicles the consolidation of American nationality and characteramidst the dangerous conflicts of the Napoleonic era. The original9-volume edition, long out-of-print, is complete in these two volumes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

History classic
Madison's administration included the War of 1812, a comedy of errors in basis, execution, and ending, which Adams takes great delight in telling well.In all, the Americans acquitted themselves as well as might be expected for a weak, broke, pacific-minded nation.

And by the end of Madison's tenure, 1817, as Adam's recaps the state of America much like he did to start the 2,500 pages of his history, the United States are to a remarkable degree more tightly united than the fragile Union had ever been since the days of Washington.

Adams writes with the strong and vivid vocabulary of the 19th century (even as he writes at the turn of the 20th).My personal favorites are gasconading, animadverting, and imbecility, which Adams even points out as his frequent modifier used to describe actions of the House of Representatives.

Truly classic in form and execution.

See my review of the companion volumes History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)

You may want to start with Garry Wills' recent rediscovery of Adams' history, reviewed here:Henry Adams and the Making of America

Adams: History of the US - Madison Administration (2)
Although dated, these volumes remain a must. They are dated (1889-1991) but they provide a glimpse about the past history of the US. Following this time, with the end of the Spanish-American war documents came to light providing sometimes different views of historical moments such as the role of Gen. James Wilkinson with the Spaniards.

American stature grows with Madison in the background
It is hard to write a concise review of a volume of 1500 pages, and I did read the whole volume.When I subscribed to Library of America this was a volume that really interested me.I can say that it exceeded my expectations as a marvelous narrative history of an overshadowed era of American history.This volume has filled in my knowledge of this period and at the same time provided hours of entertainment.
The book covers two primary topics.The first is the diplomatic history that led up to the War of 1812 and the second is the story of that war. James Madison is a background character who does not dominate the action as Jefferson did in Adam's previous volume.The scholarship is excellent as each event is covered in great detail.Adam's writing has a unique style that compares well to Edward Gibbon.
The diplomatic history is covered in great detail with excerpts from letters and conversations telling the story of the arrogance of Napoleon and the British that culminated in the war.Napoleon is portrayed as a power seeker who lied to the Americans and stole their property with no compunctions.The British are even more villianous.They are portrayed as very thorough and practiced in their diplomatic dealings, treating America as a child with less status than when they were colonies.The studied contempt poured on the Americans made me angry.
The war movement was led by Congress over the opposition of Madison.Britain became the object of war based upon the nearness of Canada and their continual impressment including the attack on an American warship before the war.The attacks of the Indians on the frontier stirred up by the British also fueled the aggressiveness of the Congressional War Hawks.
The war of 1812 brings out Adams chauvanism.He continually praises the American soldiery despite their lack of any real success and saves his highest compliments for the American navy.I am not a military historian but given the fact that Washington was sacked and burned it would not appear that the American military was very effective.I did enjoy the portrayal of the Battle of New Orleans and have read it several times.The British got their ass kicked by their own admission and even though the war was over this victory made the nation proud.The naval exploits are supported by quotes from the British and it does appear that one on one the Americans were superior.
The book closes with some interesting social history and concludes with Adams analysis of the effect of the war.He states that the war established the unity of the nation and assured the success of the American experiment.The ascendacy of New England that had given rise to the first secession movement was ended.The end of the fear of the European powers allowed America to concentrate on building their own nation.The people of America had gained the necessary confidence to strike their own way building a unique nation.
1500 pages is a lot of work.It was worth it to me.My knowledge and understanding of our history in this era was greatly increased.The writing is excellent and the LOA editions are always first rate.If you have the curiousity and make the investment of time I am sure you will find it worthwhile.

A Pivotal Age in American Politics
Unlike the first volume where Jefferson dominated every page, Madison is virtually invisible in the first 400 pages. During his administration, his principles and acts were either thwarted by a bungling 13th Congress, or superseded by an energetic 14th Congress. As well (according to Adams) this was the last age in which ambassadors and envoys carried so much weight in the administration. Afterwards the Congress became the premier power in the United States, with ambassadors playing important but less conspicuous roles, and the President becoming less of a political force. In the first 400 pages, Adams painstakingly describes the diplomatic engagements that embroiled us into a war with England and France, and then brilliantly describes the naval and land battles that occurred during the War of 1812. After Washington was burned (for which Madison was jeered and vilified when passing from village to village), the United States broke into an economic vitality not known before (which tended to make the public forget the burning of Washington). Massachusetts, which had threatened secession with Connecticut and Rhode Island, was humbled by the new Republican Treasurer, whose autocratic policies helped to reduce one state's superiority over another. An interesting and energetic portrayal of life in early America, and the sudden maturation process of our diplomatic and economic infancy.

A classic, lovingly researched and written
This book is a dignified piece of historical writing.Although it is long, it manages to be significant throughout.The personality profiles are interesting, the battle descriptions are gripping, and the political analysis is acute.Before reading this volume (and its companion), I did not realize how pivotal the events of this era were in shaping the rest of 19th century US.Recommended to those with time to ponder, especially if they are fond of Adams' writing style. ... Read more

Product Description
The Education of Henry Adams is the Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography of Henry Adams. The Education is much more a record of Adams's introspection than of his deeds. It is an extended meditation on the social, technological, political, and intellectual changes that occurred over Adams's lifetime. Adams concluded that his traditional education at Harvard failed to help him come to terms with the rapid changes he saw in his lifetime; hence his need for self-education. Adams repeatedly laments that his formal education, grounded in the classics, history, and literature, as was then the fashion, did not give him the scientific and mathematical knowledge needed to grasp the scientific breakthroughs of the 1890s and 1900s. The organizing thread of the book is how the "proper" schooling and other aspects of his youth, was time wasted; thus his search for self-education through experiences, friendships, and reading. Many consider this the best autobiography ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
This survey of the work of Viktor Schreckengost - an artistic inventor, an American DaVinci - marks the centenary of his birth.A key figure in the first era of modern design and one of its last living leaders, Schreckengost's paintings, sculpture, pottery, and industrial designs, are now being exhibited at more than 100 museums around the United States.Throughout his long working career, Schreckengost strove to apply a creative philosophy that liinked artistically dramatic form with an object's function.The result was design that was nearly always remarkable and very often revolutionary.He created the first cab-over-engine truck, the first modern mass-produced dinnerware, and the first economical pedal-cars for children.He designed stage sets and costumers, flashlights, printing presses, riding lawn mowers, electric fans, and bicycles.At the same time, his work in the fine arts flourished.He won awards for paintings and ceramic sculpture, placed pieces in museums, and won commissions for new sculptures.Somehow he also foundtime to establish the Industrial Design Department at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the first program of its kind in the U.S., where he helped teach a new generation of designers.This study of the life and work of Viktor Schreckengost includes more than 250 images of his art and design iwth an extensive text by historian Henry Adams.From the ceramic Jazz Bowl to the high speed, sixteen color printing press designed for R.R. Donnelly, Schreckengost demonstrated style an d innovation that have influenced the shapes of things Americans have used for more than two generations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Viktor Schreckengost-The American Da Vinci
A great book about a great man......very informative.......I met the man so therefore I am extremely impressed....

An Amazing Man!
Viktor Schreckengost is a truly amazing man! This book shows his wide range of design and artistic talents and accomplishments, and talks about his philosophy, which was so important in all of his work. The author has talked with Viktor, and includes Viktor's comments on some of his own work. There are many photos of his workin the book, including his famous Jazz Bowls, paintings, sculpture, toy pedal cars, and much more. This book is a wonderful tribute to Viktor as part of the celebration of his 100th birthday!

Highly recommended.
Fine artist, sculptor, and ceramicist Viktor Schreckengost has had an enormous impact of popular culture through his Limoges dinnerware designs, his work as a graphic artist, theater and costume designer, as well as his industrial designs which ranged from Murray bicycles, pedal cars, planes and boats, to Steelcraft toy buses and trucks, commercial printing presses, the first riding lawn mower, General Electric lighting fixtures and appliances, the Sear's Beverly Hills lawn chair, and that classic icon of American childhood -- the little red wagon. Profusely illustrated in full color and enhanced with the addition of an Index and Image Catalogue, and with expert commentary by former museum curator Henry Adams, "Viktor Schreckengost: American Da Vinci" is a superbly presented and informative introduction to the life, work, and artistry of a remarkably talent who dedicated himself to the esthetic improvement of American popular culture. Highly recommended for personal, professional, and academic library American Art History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Viktor Schreckengost Quiet Giant
The book is an excellent read for any fan of Viktor's. It includes many of his pieces that have not been seen before, including dinnerware, theater designs, and toys. It has wonderful pictures ofall of Viktor's various artworks. The new text greatly expands upon the different mediums he worked in and how he was influencial to American design. ... Read more