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=                    The_Education_of_Henry_Adams                    =
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                            Introduction
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'The Education of Henry Adams' is an autobiography that records the
struggle of the Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in his later years,
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. In 1907, Adams began privately
circulating copies of a limited edition printed at his own expense.
Commercial publication of the book had to await its author's 1918
death, whereupon it won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. The Modern Library
placed it first in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction
books of the 20th century.


                              Subject
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'The Education' is more a record of Adams's introspection and his
observations 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 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, but incarnated in his term "dynamo".
'The Education' mentions the recent discovery of X-rays and
radioactivity, and shows a familiarity with radio waves in his
citation of Marconi and Branly.  Adams purchased an automobile as
early as 1902, to make better use of a summer in France researching
'Mont Saint Michel and Chartres'. He correctly predicted that the 20th
century would have 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.

Adams had direct knowledge of many notable events and persons of the
1850-1900 period, and much of the text is devoted to giving his views
on them.  The text is written as if readers are already familiar with
the major figures and events of the time. 'The Education' repeatedly
mentions two long-standing friends of Adams, the scientific explorer
of the American Far West, Clarence King, and the American diplomat,
John Milton Hay, who became Secretary of State. 'The Education' is
narrated in the third person. It is frequently sarcastic and
humorously self-critical.

'The Education' does not discuss Adams's marriage, and the illness and
1885 suicide of his wife, Clover; it mostly leaves out the periods
from 1872 to 1892. The text does not discuss what this period
contributed to his education. He referred to his marriage indirectly,
by for example, lamenting how the memorial he had constructed for his
wife had become something of a tourist attraction.


                              Context
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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 Civil War, and had been elected to the United
States House of Representatives. His brothers Brooks Adams and Charles
Francis Adams Jr. were also historians of note. Henry Adams had
received the finest formal education available in the United States,
enjoying many other advantages, as well. This social context makes
'The Education' so important, but the trappings of success did not
mean much to a restless individualist such as Adams. Rather than take
advantage of his patrician name, he sized up this and other advantages
and found them wanting.


                             Assessment
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'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. The Modern Library placed it first in a
list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the 20th
century.

Author and historian Garry Wills has suggested 'The Education'
contradicts much of Adams' earlier work and opinions, and has biased
assessments of Adams' earlier historical works.


                         In popular culture
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In his novel 'V.', Thomas Pynchon likens his protagonist Herbert
Stencil to Henry Adams in the 'Education', as they both refer to
themselves in the third person.

The lyrics of "Long Folk Revival" by Thirsty Curses include a line
"...it's The New Education of Henry Adams".


                          Further reading
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* Print editions:
**1983. 'Collected Works of Henry Adams'. Library of America. . Also
includes Adams's  'Democracy, Esther', and 'Mont Saint Michel and
Chartres'.
**1995. Penguin Classics.
**1999. Oxford University Press.
**2000. Mariner Books.
*Electronic editions:
*
**[https://web.archive.org/web/19970430063506/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HADAMS/ha_home.html
American Studies Hypertext project], University of Virginia.

Recent collections of interpretive essays include:
*Rowe, John Carlos, ed., 1996. 'New Essays on The Education of Henry
Adams'. Cambridge University Press. . These essays situate 'The
Education' in its historical context, especially in light of U.S.
foreign policy and of views about education and gender prevailing at
the time it was written.
*Decker, William Merrill, and Earl N. Harbert. 'Henry Adams & the
Need to Know,' Massachusetts Historical Society Studies in American
History and Culture, No. 8. Boston: Massachusetts Historical
Society;Charlottesville: Distributed by the University of Virginia
Press, 2005.


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