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Article: The real education of Henry Adams. (Reconsiderations).
- Article from:
- The Public Interest
- Article date:
- March 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The National Affairs, 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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MANY years ago Russell Kirk wrote, "to dislike Henry Adams is easy." What was true then is still true today. Many of those familiar with Adams dismiss him as little more than an erudite crank. Readers tend to view his autobiographical The Education of Henry Adams as a brilliant work of literature, but mainly for aesthetic reasons, and his Mont Saint Michel and Chartres as an amusing intellectual journey through the medieval mind. As for the massive History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, it may be the greatest work of history ever written by an American, but it seems too long to be of much use to anyone in this day and ...