Excerpt from The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography

Privately printed in 1907; published after Adams's death in 1918

Reprinted by Time Inc. in 1964

A merican journalist, historian, and novelist Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918) is best remembered for writings that captured the essence of the changes that occurred during the Gilded Age, the era of industrialization from the early 1860s to the turn of the century in which a few wealthy individuals gained tremendous power and influence. He was born into one of the most well-known political families in the United States. His great-grandfather was John Adams (1735–1826; served 1797–1801), the second president of the United States; his grandfather was John Quincy Adams (1767–1848; served 1825–29), the sixth U.S. president; and his father, Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886), was a diplomat and U.S. senator. As a child, Henry Adams sat at the dinner table with some of...