The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams
The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams
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The Education of Henry Adams

Author: Henry Adams

Narrator: Wolfram Kandinsky

Unabridged: 21 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2008

Synopsis

Few works have so firmly established their position in American literature as The Education of Henry Adams. As a man of extraordinary gifts and learning and a member of one of the greatest American families, Henry Adams wrote an insightful exploration of himself and the tumultuous age in which he lived. In the words of Van Wyck Brooks, he "revealed a phase of American history with unparalleled boldness and truth." In spite of his illustrious background and Harvard schooling, Henry Adams asserts that his conventional education was defective because it did not prepare him to live in a world transformed by the new science and the new technology. His intention was to write a kind of handbook to prepare "young men, in universities and elsewhere, to be men of the world, equipped for any emergency." The result is what many consider to be one of the finest autobiographies ever written.

About Henry Adams

Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918), American man of letters, was grandson and great-grandson of presidents of the United States. He taught history at Harvard, edited the North American Review, and published two novels. His ambitious History of the United States during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison appeared in nine volumes from 1889-91. His Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, an interpretation of the spiritual unity of the 13th century mind, led to his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams, which describes the multiplicity of the 20th century mind.

About Wolfram Kandinsky

Wolfram Kandinsky (1940–1993) was a popular audiobook narrator whose career spanned the earliest days of commercial audiobooks. He was a familiar voice of the classics for millions of audiobook fans, and his résumé encorporated the greats of American literature, from Mark Twain to Saul Bellow.

Reviews

Goodreads review by William2 on April 12, 2023

Epistemological inquiry in the form of self-denigrating autobiography. Written in the third person, at times overbearingly acerbic. Author Henry Adams was grandson of President John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of President John Adams. He was a Boston Puritan born in 1838 who at sixteen attended......more

Goodreads review by Justin on April 03, 2012

One of the oddest books I've ever read, and am ever likely to read: an autobiography written in the third person, which tells us almost nothing at all about the author/central character, this seems more like a pre-modernist bildungsroman than anything else. The weirdness doesn't end there- Henry Ada......more

Goodreads review by Roy on November 05, 2016

Once more! this is a story of education, not of adventure! It is meant to help young men—or such as have intelligence enough to seek help—but it is not meant to amuse them. Everyone agrees that this book is difficult and odd. An autobiography of an American man of letters, the son of a diplomat,......more

Goodreads review by Mackenzie on January 28, 2009

there is no book like this anywhere else in American literature. It annoys, it fascinates, it bores, it amuses... a densely textured, thoughtful, at times exasperating story of growing up in the American 19th Century by the great-grandson of one president and the grandson of another -- who freely ad......more

Goodreads review by Brendan on September 27, 2007

Henry Adams was the original celebutante: famous for nothing other than being related to the two John Adams(es), he was in the unique position of having access to the upper crust of post-revolutionary America without having the burden of any kind of responsibility. This book is a guided tour of 19th-......more

Quotes

“There are sentences, paragraphs, whole pages that the reviewer is deeply tempted to quote. Suffice it again to recommend the public to read the book as a whole.” New York Times Book Review

“Among the oddest and most enlightening books in American literature…Contains thousands of memorable one-liners about politics, morality, culture, and transatlantic relations…Most of all, Adams’ book is a brilliant account of how his own sensibility came to be.” Amazon.com, editorial review

“At the time, memoirs were generally written by great men, to recount their great, public lives. But The Education of Henry Adams is the story of Henry Adams’ growing sense of his own personality, his own individual ideas about America and about history. It was one of the first times in American literature that an American had written such a subjective book about his own experiences and his own ideas. Memoirists have been following in its path ever since.” Writersalmanac.org

Awards

  • Pulitzer Prize
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