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Article: Nation building.(Henry Adams and the Making of America)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- December 31, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Henry Adams and the Making of America, by Garry Wills (Houghton Mifflin, 448 pp., $30)
OF great American books, Henry Adams's History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (1889-91) is almost certainly the least read. The book's sheer mass terrifies: Originally published in nine volumes, it runs to some 2,700 pages in the two-volume Library of America edition. One doesn't read a book this thick unless someone authoritative tells one to, and the authorities have long had little or no use for the History.
The Northwestern University historian and critic Garry Wills wants justice--and a ...