''The Education of Henry Adams'' is an
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
that records the struggle of Bostonian
Henry Adams
Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents.
As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fra ...
(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
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
placed it first in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century.
Subject
''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
Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...
. 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
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, 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
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
over the course of his lifetime, sometimes now called
Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Firs ...
, but incarnated in his term "
dynamo
file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, )
A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...
". ''The Education'' mentions the recent discovery of
X-rays
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...
and
radioactivity, and shows a familiarity with
radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...
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
Clarence Rivers King (January 6, 1842 – December 24, 1901) was an American geologist, mountaineer and author. He was the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. Nominated by Republican President Rutherford B. Hay ...
, and the American diplomat,
John Milton Hay
John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...
, 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
Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...
; 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
''The Memorial'' is a 1932 English novel by author Christopher Isherwood. The novel tells the story of an English family's disintegration in the days following World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated ...
he had constructed for his wife had become something of a tourist attraction.
Context
Henry Adams' life story is rooted in the American political aristocracy that emerged from the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. He was the grandson of the
American President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...
and great-grandson of President and founding father
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
. 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
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
. His brothers
Brooks Adams
Peter Chardon Brooks Adams (June 24, 1848 – February 13, 1927) was an American attorney, historian, political scientist and a critic of capitalism.
Early life and education
Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on June 24, 1848, son of ...
and
Charles Francis Adams Jr.
Charles Francis Adams Jr. (May 27, 1835 – March 20, 1915) was an American author, historian, and railroad and park commissioner who served as the president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890. He served as a colonel in the Union Arm ...
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
''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
Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...
has suggested ''The Education'' contradicts much of Adams' earlier work and opinions, and has biased assessments of Adams' earlier historical works.
[Wills, Garry. ''Henry Adams and The Making of America.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2005.]
In popular culture
In his novel, ''
V.'',
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
likens his protagonist Herbert Stencil to Henry Adams in the ''Education'' as they both refer to themselves in the third person.
References
Further reading
* Print editions:
**1983. ''Collected Works of Henry Adams''.
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
. . Also includes Adams's ''Democracy, Esther'', and ''Mont Saint Michel and Chartres''.
**1995.
Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...
.
**1999. Oxford University Press.
**2000. Mariner Books.
*Electronic editions:
*
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
The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...
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.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Education of Henry Adams, The
1918 non-fiction books
Literary autobiographies
American autobiographies
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography-winning works