''The History of the United States of America 1801–1817'', also known as ''The History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison'', is a nine-volume history written by American

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

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 Fr ...

, and first published between 1889 and 1891. The entire work has been reprinted many times, most often in a two-volume format. 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 described it as "the greatest prose masterpiece of non-fiction in America in the 19th century." The critic and poet

Dan Chiasson Dan Chiasson (; born May 9, 1971 in Burlington, Vermont) is an American poet, critic, and journalist. The ''Sewanee Review'' called Chiasson "the country’s most visible poet-critic." He is the Lorraine C. Wang Professor of English Literature a ...

has also described the book's singular reputation, writing in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', "To many, it is the greatest work of history written by an American."https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/07/what-henry-adams-understood-about-historys-breaking-points The first six chapters of the first volume have also been published separately as ''America in 1800''.

References

External links

archive.org

Library of America

onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
1889 non-fiction books 1890 non-fiction books 1891 non-fiction books History books about the United States 1800s in the United States Series of history books 1810s in the United States {{US-hist-book-stub