Henry Adams devoted a lifetime to studying America’s foundation, witnessed its near-dissolution, and uncannily anticipated its evolution.
Away we go into a Presidential transition, one of the most worrisome since 1860-61, when the unity of the nation hung in the balance. Henry Adams, not quite twenty-three, the grandson and great-grandson of U.S. Presidents, passed that season in Washington, serving as personal secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, a congressman from Massachusetts, while making the social rounds and working behind the scenes as an anonymous correspondent for the Boston.
Adams was an antislavery Northerner with a caste affinity for Southern gentlemen like his college friend William Lee, Robert E. Lee’s son. Adams had made a faster start in politics than even his distinguished ancestors, but his sentences imply that he already envisioned a different form of power. He was constructing a sensibility that could organize a wide variety of information, “a hodge-podge of world-fact, private fact, philosophy, irony,” according to his friend William James.
The Madam was a little more remote than the President, but more decorative. She stayed much in her own room with the Dutch tiles, looking out on her garden with the box walks, and seemed a fragile creature to a boy who sometimes brought her a note or a message, and took distinct pleasure in looking at her delicate face under what seemed to him very becoming caps.
The title “The Education of Henry Adams” recalls novels like “The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.” But its structure reverses the classic formula of a charismatic nobody rewarded, in a final turn, with his rightful wealth and pedigree. “Probably no child, born in the year, held better cards than he,” Adams writes of himself. Just like that, one very useful narrative structure, that of adversity overcome, is ruled out.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
First Mover Americas: Upbit Moves Up to No. 2 in Spot Trading VolumeCrypto exchange upbitglobal passes coinbase and okxx in spot trading volume and Coinbase’s layer-2 network is set to go live next week. LedesmaLyllah and godbole17 report in First Mover Americas.
Read more »
Henry Cuellar, a previous Democratic primary target, touts 2024 support from national party leadersThe moderate Democrat from Laredo announced endorsements from top Democrats in the U.S. House, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Read more »
NYC Mayor Adams accused of using migrants as 'props' as they sleep outside Manhattan hotelA immigrant advocacy group accused New York City Mayor Eric Adams of using arriving migrants as 'props' and demanded the mayor make more space to shelter them inside.
Read more »
This Litt 'Suits' Spinoff Almost HappenedGabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams starred in the original series.
Read more »
NYC Council approves permanent outdoor dining; Mayor Adams expected to sign it into lawOutdoor dining has been a controversial issue in recent years, with critics complaining about sanitation issues, noise, and fewer parking spaces.
Read more »