Adams, Henry

History Of The United States Of America 9 Volumes) (Notable American Authors Series - Part I)

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History Of The United States Of America 9 Volumes) (Notable American Authors Series - Part I)
Henry Adams
Manufacturer: Reprint Services Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0781214408

Handbook of Clinical Behavior Therapy, 2nd Edition

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Handbook of Clinical Behavior Therapy, 2nd Edition

Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471635634

Book Description

Since the first edition, the theoretical bases for behavioral approaches to therapy have greatly expanded, as have the applications and related research. Provides a discussion of behavioral intervention for the major mental disorders. It endeavors to integrate theory and practice with particular emphasis on those theoretical issues related to implementation of a given treatment. There is liberal use of case examples and a critical evaluation of the outcome literature in each area.

Bethany Parallel Commentary on the New Testament

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The BEST commentary on the New Testament availble today!

Bethany Parallel Commentary on the New Testament
Matthew Henry , Jamieson , Fausset , Brown , and Adam Clarke
Manufacturer: Bethany House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Bethany Parallel Commentary on the Old Testament

ASIN: 0871234742

Book Description

A parallel presentation of three of the most widely respected commentaries ever written.

A convenient method for comparing the comments and opinions of several Bible scholars without having to resort to many volumes.

A handy, manageable, practical and inspiring reference tool for pastors and Bible students.

Includes G. Campbell Morgan's outline of each New Testament book.

Almost 500 additional sources quoted in appropriate sections throughout the volume.

THE ONLY BOOK OF ITS KIND!

Background information, original word definitions, inspirational insights and interesting opinion on every Scripture portion of the New Testament from a wide spectrum of evangelical thought.

Customer Reviews:

The BEST commentary on the New Testament availble today!.......2000-06-15

Matthew Henry outdoes himself with this book. One of the worlds famous authors of various commentaries, Mr. Henry brings to life the true meaning of the scriptures. His articulation puts the verses of the New Testament into everyday household words that makes it easy for anyone between the ages of 8-80 to understand. This powerful adaptation will send chills down your spine as he brings the text to life!

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Charmed with smiles and soap
The Annotated Hunting of the Snark
"An agony in eight fits."

The Annotated Hunting of the Snark
Lewis Carroll
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition
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Against the Day

ASIN: 0393062422

Book Description

<B>The definitive guide to one of the most baffling epics of nineteenth-century literature—a companion to The Annotated Alice.</B><BR><BR>"It's a Snark!"…for whatever else can it be?" Published on April Fools' Day in 1876, Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark remains one of the most amusing and bizarre works of modern verse. Carroll, who completed this classic poem eleven years after the publication of Alice in Wonderland, invites readers along on a fictitious hunt to determine who—or what—the Snark actually is. More than 130 years later, the indomitable Martin Gardner returns to the Snark with a trove of new annotations and illustrations, uncovering some of the most confounding literary, linguistic, and mathematical references embedded in any of Lewis Carroll's many works. Included in this gorgeous, two-color volume is an introduction by Adam Gopnik, as well as Henry Holiday's distinctive, original illustrations, a substantial bibliography, and a suppressed drawing of the infamous Boojum. With a host of other Snark resources, this is the most ambitious work on Lewis Carroll's masterpiece in many decades. Two-color throighout; 56 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Charmed with smiles and soap.......2007-01-22

Highly recommended for readers interested in the timeless poem by Lewis Carroll. And this should encompass all those, regardless of age, who have a sense of humor and an element of wonder.

The Annotated Hunting of the Snark.......2007-01-06

This is a new version of older works. It has new introductions
and the new preface by Martin Gardner. This new version contains
additional and expanded thoughts on the main work. Being the latest
and greatest version to date.

"An agony in eight fits.".......2006-11-06

Filled with exuberant language, The Annotated Hunting of the Snark is an unparalleled adventure, part nonsense, part ironic elucidation, suggesting that nothing is ever what it seems. Published on April Fool's Day 1876, Carroll's epic poem, The Hunting of the Snark, is elaborately presented with annotations by Martin Gardener, exploring the sea voyage of a crew determined to capture the elusive Snark; they are ten: a Bellman, a Boots, a maker of Bonnets and Hoods, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Beaver and a Butcher. The Snark itself presents a conundrum, be it beast of "Boojum", an entity that will cause them all to disappear.

For over a century, scholars have discussed Carroll's poem, its nonsense, allegories and anecdotes, rife with hidden meanings and scholarly interpretations. The annotations and illustrations in this volume are classic, black and white images of animated men and beasts, fantasy in the ink strokes of the artist's pen, page after page of fascinating annotations reflecting the variety of discussions engendered by the poem: "According to Humpty Dumpty, the word `mimsy" (from the first stanza of Jabberwocky) is a portmanteau word combining `miserable' and `flimsy'."

Each fit advances the story, introducing the crew members, each with his pretensions and expectations. Both dreamlike and illogical, The Annotated The Hunting of the Snark appeals in language and whimsy with undertones of danger, the unknown lurking, a virtual treasure trove of allegories for those inclined to such interpretation. It is Gardner who adds the unique spirit of this edition, expansively embracing "a personal God and much that confounds the simple or poverty-stricken or mindless materialism", while remaining "an untiring pursuer of pseudoscience and irrationality", the "space between a feeling heart and a thinking mind, between a love of the marvelous and a reverence for skeptical truth":

"In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away-
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see."

Our modern world has been redefined by the specter of the Snark as Boojum, perhaps as death or a fear of extinction, a dread of the unknown. With its luxurious illustrations, the annotated poem is followed by a number of interesting pieces: "An Easter Greeting"; "A Commentary by Snarkophilus Snobs"; "The Clue" (a sequel); "Excepts from Henry Holiday's Reminiscences of My Life"; and an extensive bibliography, all in all, a grand adventure into a vast chasm of possibilities. Luan Gaines/2006.

History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)

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Very Informative and a good read
A remarkable achievement
First Six Chapters of Vol.1
Best diplomatic history of early America
Brings History to Life

History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)
Henry Adams
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (Library of America)

ASIN: 0940450348

Customer Reviews:

Very Informative and a good read.......2007-05-25

The two volumes by Henry Adams on Jefferson and Madison give great insight into the formative years of the United States and of politics in general. Adams writing style is a real breath of fresh air for a history of this magnitude. He clearly sets out to make sure you understand what is going on despite the huge number of events and different people. This is no easy task when you are reading this massive work. He has a very modern style unlike some other authors of the period.

Some parts of the text are very amusing like Jefferson's self inflicted wound during the Merry affair. Jefferson's faults and the stupidity of many of the elected leaders are laid bare at times leaving your mouth agape. Too bad Adams never did a similar project on the Washington and Adams administrations.

If only our political leaders could be made to read these volumes. They could learn something.

A remarkable achievement.......2003-01-27

Adams' work here ranks with Macaulay and Carlyle in terms of telling an intricate history through the private letters and conversations of the players involved. From the first pages where he describes the America over which Jefferson presided, Adams clearly defines idealogies and principles as they were defended and practiced by the Federalists and Republicans of the day. Throughout Jefferson's two terms, the president was forced to abandon favorite principles and to defend others that were ulimately (if not immediately) untenable. Through skillful hands we watch how moods changed and policies switched, and how the main characters attempted to reconcile their inconsistencies. Jefferson hoped to expose the wrongfulness of Federalist policies, yet wound up forwarding the same tenets in his management. The President who rose to such a height of popularity and power left the office as disgraced and as generally disliked as any Chief Executive before or after. A masterful work about eight important and formative years in the early republic.

First Six Chapters of Vol.1.......2002-11-26

May be a good starting point....The United States in 1800 by Henry Adams. First Six Chapters of Vol.1

Best diplomatic history of early America.......2001-11-15

Even though it was written in the 1880s, this is the best history of early American diplomacy yet written. It is important to mention that this is primarily a diplomatic history, and it certainly reflects the author's interest and family history in foreign affairs. Adams has meticulously researched all matters of State and diplomacy, but he has reserved the topics of culture, economics, and education for far more subjective analysis. It becomes obvious early in the text that Adams is highly deferential to Great Britain, and the young American republic is constantly compared and trivialized, in contrapuntal regularity, against the great European powers. Adams has a lot to say about America's poverty, provincialism, and anti-intellectualism when compared to England, France, and Russia. American culture cringe pervades the text. While frequently accurate, he drives the point to excess: America becomes somewhat of a play-thing for the imperial ambitions of Europe. We're treated to page after page of material on the British ambassadors. In short, this is probably the kind of American history we would have expected Henry James and T. S. Eliot to have read, the kind that gets all the facts and dates right but can't conceal the author's sincere desire to be English.

Brings History to Life.......2000-07-02

In my mind, this is the best, most comprehensive, erudite and witty history of the administration of Jefferson. Although the length may scare some off, it is well worth the time and effort.

Adams spends a great deal of time examining foreign affairs. There are a few simple reasons for this. The wars between England, France and Spain had a direct and major impact on the growth of the US, and their conflicts were the conflicts of the US. Secondly, the federal government of the US, at the time, was devoted mostly to foreign affairs.

This is a political history. Do not look for descriptions on how the common people lived. Do not look for an inquiry into how women were treated, nor a disquisition on slavery. Do not expect much discussion on Sally Hemmings.

If however, you are looking for an in-depth analysis of a critical time in US history, a well-written, often funny book, read this book.

Primary Pediatric Care
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Very Useful

Outstanding

Great reference for primare care healthcare providers.

Primary Pediatric Care

Manufacturer: Mosby
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Clinical Guidelines in Family Practice

Guidelines for Health Supervision III (Book + Cue Card Booklet, Revised Edition)

The Harriet Lane Handbook: A Manual for Pediatric House Officers, 17th Edition

Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis

Primary Care Pediatrics

ASIN: 0323008313

Book Description

The thoroughly updated, New Edition of this classic text offers comprehensive coverage of the primary care of children and adolescents. Introductory sections explore fundamental principles of pediatric practice; then, individual sections provide you with easy, alphabetical access to essential guidance on "Childhood Behaviors," "Presenting Signs and Symptoms," "Specific Clinical Problems," and "Critical Situations." This practical organization makes it simple to find state-of-the-art information on a full range of commonly encountered pediatric problems.

Customer Reviews:

Very Useful.......2003-04-26

This book is an outstanding reference for the primary care pediatrician in office practice. It is much better oriented to day-to-day pediatrics than Nelson's and its imitators. The CD-ROM is very useful and easy to navigate. As a bonus, the CD-ROM contains all of the excellent illustrations for Zitelli & Davis' superb Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis.

Outstanding.......2001-08-20

Great reference for primare care healthcare providers........1999-09-23

This book was a great reference in residency and now in practice

The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems (Dover Value Editions)

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Only half the Edda
the best translation
Hail Asagods!
Impressive, enjoyable, and informative

The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems (Dover Value Editions)

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)
Edda (Everyman's Library)
The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology (Dover Value Editions)
Exploring The Northern Tradition: A Guide To The Gods, Lore, Rites And Celebrations From The Norse, German And Anglo-saxon Traditions (Exploring Series)
The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 0486437108

Book Description

The vibrant Old Norse poems in this 13th-century collection recapture the ancient oral traditions of the Norsemen. These mythological poems include the Voluspo, one of the broadest literary conceptions of the world's creation and ultimate destruction; the Lokasenna, a comedy bursting with vivid characterizations; and more.

Customer Reviews:

Only half the Edda.......2006-09-07

This is an excellent translation from Henry Bellows, easy to understand and with many footnotes. This is the version I use when I read the poems aloud.

The spelling he chose for transliterated names doesn't follow the common style, Voluspo is usually Voluspa, Hovamol is usually Havamal, etc, but these differences are minor and easy to get used to. The print is a facsmile (typical of this publisher) but clear and easy to read, and the binding is good quality (unlike products from some similar companies).

Unfortunately Dover only published half of the book, the section referred to to as the "Mythological Lays", and have omitted the "Heroic Lays", assuming I suppose that we'd only want to read the poems referring directly to the gods. They do clearly admit the omission at the beginning of the book. Much of the ancient scandinavian works we have are regarding heroes related to the gods, so to focus completely on the gods themselves is to miss pieces of the whole picture. Some researchers (in the minority) even suggest that the "Heroic Lays" are actually stories about the gods under different names, which was a very common practice (as you'll see when you read the poems that are included). So I consider the omission very unfortunate.

Despite that complaint I think this book is worth the cost. Unless you want to print your own (the Bellows translation is in the public domain), this book is an excellent choice for what it does have. Just be aware of what you're missing.

the best translation.......2005-12-28

the poetic edda is one of the greatest collections of poetry of all times. it contains the beautifully vivid "volupso", the norse apocalypse poem, the comedic ballads, the "wrangling of Loki" and "Lay of Thrmy", the proverbial wisdom of the "sayings of har" and the mournful lays of the larger-than-heroes, the volsungs and niflungs. the edda is better written than Beowulf, the more popular northern epic, and the rhythmic verse gives it more aesthetic appeal than most epic poems. the meter, based on alliteration and caesura, whether rhythmic fornyrdislag or lilting ljodahattr, is much more pleasing to the ear than classical blank verse, which has sticter syllable stress patterns. unfortunately, the edda is not in very good condition. their are gaps in the manuscripts, and there are numerous places where it appears a scribe covered up a gap with extraneous material. the poems vary greatly in quality, and you need a good understanting of norse myths to understand what is going on (i recommend Norse Stories: Retold from the Eddas by Hamilton Mabie). none the less, the edda is a wonderful read for fans of poetry, epics, or norse mythology.

Bellows translation does a very good job at preserving the metric rhythm of the norse poems, and a fairly good job of preserving the alliteration, while avoiding the archaism of Hollander. his grammer and word choice is a little "olde", but it is still far more aesthetically pleasing the Larrington's translation, and much more accessible than Hollander's. Dronke's translation is also excellent, but only one of five parts of it is currently in print, and it is absurdly priced, but see if you can find it at your library. unfortunately, thus far Dover has only reprinted half of Bellows' translation, this volume contains only the "mythological" lays, so we can only hope they will publish the heroic poems soon, but anyone serious about reading the edda will want to get more than one translation anyway.

Hail Asagods!.......2005-09-02

This is the "bible" for Asatruars and Odinists everywhere. This book is pretty easy to read once you figure out the way the words are arranged. Foot notes include variations of translation, and so sometimes the reader must come up with his/her own conclusion about a certain word or name. All in all, the Poetic Edda, whoever originally composed the works, is a great read and can be enjoyed by poetry collectors, lovers of mythology, and people who are interested in ancient Norse storytelling.

Impressive, enjoyable, and informative.......2004-12-25

A Dover reprint of the Mythological section (The Lays of the Gods) from the poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems compiled in the 1200s from older oral traditions. First published by the American-Scandinavian Foundation in 1923. It's a slow read, primarily because almost every page is crammed with footnotes. The translation seems pretty good - it attempts to imitate the form of the Old Norse poetry, and the language at times is very moving with vivid imagery and sonic resonance. The abundant footnotes bog down the reading, but they are necessary since the Eddic poems were originally composed for an audience already familiar with Norse mythology. I went into this book knowing nothing about the subject, and by the time I had finished, with the help of Mr. Bellows' notes along the way, I had developed a real thirst for more. Somewhat difficult reading, but for somebody with a literary bent this is an excellent introduction to the world of Norse legendry. It certainly begs a second reading, ignoring the footnotes and just enjoying the poetry.

The Education of Henry Adams: A Centennial Version (Massachusetts Historical Society)

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best of available

The Education of Henry Adams: A Centennial Version (Massachusetts Historical Society)
Henry Adams
Manufacturer: Massachusetts Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy

ASIN: 0934909911

Book Description

Both a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and at the head of the Modern Library's list of the one hundred best English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century, The Education of Henry Adams has long been revered as a great work of literature. Written by Adams in the third person, the book became known for founding a new genre best described as "an education" -- an account not of life, but of learning. A tireless historian, politician, and traveler, Adams was from first to last a dedicated learner capable of great originality. In this text, Adams uses his background information (such as place of birth, voyage destinations, and alma mater) but little else, placing his protagonist in front of life's various pitfalls with the object of providing those stepping out into the world with the tools they need to handle themselves in the face of adversity. By inventing his own fictional missteps, Adams allows readers to educate themselves on how to approach life's curveballs.

Although The Education of Henry Adams has long been considered a classic, until now the only editions available were those from 1907 and 1918. The former, which appeared in Adams's lifetime, was a private printing of only one hundred copies, containing hundreds of printer's errors and editorial inconsistencies. The latter, printed by the Massachusetts Historical Society and Houghton Mifflin Company after Adams's death in March of 1918, amounted to a wholesale modernization of Adams's work, leaving telling defects, including stylistic inconsistencies and incomplete sentences. With The Education of Henry Adams: A Centennial Version, editors Edward Chalfant and Conrad Edick Wright have at long last returned this celebrated book to the author's vision. Combining close attention to the private printing's typesetting and editorial shortcomings with valuable insights into the history of the book and Adams's reasons for writing it, they have also inserted marginal corrections by Adams in his working copies of the 1907 printing. With an introductory note, an invitation to readers, and a postscript, they have both traced the text's own story and offered a compelling interpretation of the author's motives.

Customer Reviews:

best of available.......2007-05-13

If you have any interest in this subject, then this version is the best available. It has been carefully edited to reflect the original version and has an excellent introduction.

The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography (Oxford World's Classics)

Average customer rating:

Interesting Read
Not what I had hoped for...
Anyone interested in American History will love this book!
A meditation on an era
The cold classic of an unlikeable genius

The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography (Oxford World's Classics)
Henry Adams
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Henry Adams and the Making of America
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ASIN: 0192823698

Amazon.com

Many great artists have had at least intermittent doubts about their own abilities. But The Education of Henry Adams is surely one of the few masterpieces to issue directly from a raging inferiority complex. The author, to be sure, had bigger shoes to fill than most of us. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were U.S. presidents. His father, a relative underachiever, scraped by as a member of Congress and ambassador to the Court of St. James. But young Henry, born in Boston in 1838, was destined for a walk-on role in his nation's history--and seemed alarmingly aware of the fact from the time he was an adolescent.

It gets worse. For the author could neither match his exalted ancestors nor dismiss them as dusty relics--he was an Adams, after all, formed from the same 18th-century clay. "The atmosphere of education in which he lived was colonial," we are told, <blockquote>revolutionary, almost Cromwellian, as though he were steeped, from his greatest grandmother's birth, in the odor of political crime. Resistance to something was the law of New England nature; the boy looked out on the world with the instinct of resistance; for numberless generations his predecessors had viewed the world chiefly as a thing to be reformed, filled with evil forces to be abolished, and they saw no reason to suppose that they had wholly succeeded in the abolition; the duty was unchanged.</blockquote> Here, as always, Adams tells his story in a third-person voice that can seem almost extraplanetary in its detachment. Yet there's also an undercurrent of melancholy and amusement--and wonder at the specific details of what was already a lost world.

Continuing his uphill conquest of the learning curve, Adams attended Harvard, which didn't do much for him. ("The chief wonder of education is that it does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught.") Then, after a beer-and-sausage-scented spell as a graduate student in Berlin, he followed his father to Washington, D.C., in 1860. There he might have remained--bogged down in "the same rude colony ... camped in the same forest, with the same unfinished Greek temples for workrooms, and sloughs for roads"--had not the Civil War sent Adams père et fils to London. Henry sat on the sidelines throughout the conflict, serving as his father's private secretary and anxiously negotiating the minefields of English society. He then returned home and commenced a long career as a journalist, historian, novelist, and peripheral participant in the political process--a kind of mouthpiece for what remained of the New England conscience.

He was not, by any measure but his own, a failure. And the proof of the pudding is The Education of Henry Adams itself, which remains among the oddest and most enlightening books in American literature. It contains thousands of memorable one-liners about politics, morality, culture, and transatlantic relations: "The American mind exasperated the European as a buzz-saw might exasperate a pine forest." There are astonishing glimpses of the high and mighty: "He saw a long, awkward figure; a plain, ploughed face; a mind, absent in part, and in part evidently worried by white kid gloves; features that expressed neither self-satisfaction nor any other familiar Americanism..." (That would be Abraham Lincoln; the "melancholy function" his Inaugural Ball.) But most of all, Adams's book is a brilliant account of how his own sensibility came to be. A literary landmark from the moment it first appeared, the Autobiography confers upon its author precisely that prize he felt had always eluded him: success. --James Marcus

Book Description

'Every generalisation that we settled forty years ago, is abandoned' As a journalist, historian and novelist born into a family that included two past presidents of the United States, Henry Adams was constantly focused on the American experiment. An immediate bestseller awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, his The Education of Henry Adams (1918) recounts his own and the country's education from 1838, the year of his birth, to 1905, incorporating the Civil War, capitalist expansion and the growth of the United States as a world power. Exploring America as both a success and a failure, contradiction was the very impetus that compelled Adams to write the Education, in which he was also able to voice his deep scepticism about mankind's power to control the direction of history. Written with immense wit and irony, reassembling the past while glimpsing the future, Adams's vision expresses what Henry James declared the `complex fate' to be an American, and remains one of the most compelling works of American autobiography today.

Download Description

As a journalist, historian, and novelist born into a distinguished family that included two past presidents of the United States, Henry Adams was inescapably a part of the American experience. The Education of Henry Adams (1918) recounts his own and the country's development from 1838, the year of his birth, to 1905, and became an immediate bestseller, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919. The Civil War, economic expansion, and the growth of the United States are among its subjects, as well as his own 'dynamic theory of history'.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Read.......2006-04-30

This book wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but I had huge expectations for it because the only reason I read it was because the "Modern Library" list ranked it #1, but I still thought the book was very good. I wasn't familiar with Henry Adams and didn't know why I should care what he did during his life, but the further I got into the book the more interesting it became. I've been traveling through Europe for a year and thought that Adams and I shared similar opinions about traveling and other things about Europe, so that was interesting due to the large time gap. But I enjoyed the story because I thought it was an interesting depiction of America, Europe and how one has difficulty understanding the world and the challenges one experiences during life. A book worth reading.

Not what I had hoped for..........2006-04-03

I had heard of the importance, and significance of "The Education of Henry Adams" for a long time. I finally determined I needed to read it.

I acutally read it twice, and found less in it the second time than the first.

I am sorry I missed the greatness of this book. I am sure there was something wrong with me, but I found it to be incredibly unimpressive.

Perhaps this came from the fact that Henry Adams was not a likeable man. He was famous for holding court in his home near the White House, and making caustic and negative comments about every President who lived there.

Granted, he lived in Washington at a time when there were plenty of second-rate occupants of the White House. But the thought of people wasting their time trying to please a blue-blooded snob like Adams depresses me. Why did anyone bother? He lived in an atmosphere of snobbery, sharp-tongues, clever remarks, and brilliant conversation. The world went on without him, truth be told, and he contributed less than the people who walked by his house each day.

He was a very good historian in his time. But who reads his books now? Not very many. In short, his own work was not as long-lasting as he would have wanted it to be. Maybe the influence of some of the Presidents he mocked lasted longer than the published and purchased work of Henry Adams.

"The Education of Henry Adams" does not have much real information. He got education in one place, none in others. Surely, the suicide of his wife provided some very painful education for Henry--but he wrote nothing about it in his book.

When Eric Sevareid wrote "Not So Wild a Dream," it was compared to "The Education of Henry Adams." That was meant as a compliment. Oddly, I think Sevareid's book is much, much better. Sevareid wrote of America, the common man, the war, and what it all meant to him. Adams needed to get out more. He did not see America--not the America built by the common citizen who put it all together, and defended it. I gained a trememdous amount from Sevareid. I cannot say the same for the work of Henry Adams.

Again, a lot of this might be me. Perhaps I read the book at a bad time. Maybe I needed to read it a third time. I do not know. I do know I do not think this is a great American classic. Forgive, please, my ignorance.

Anyone interested in American History will love this book!.......2005-10-25

In 1885, Adams wife Marion committed suicide. Upon her death, Adams took up a restless life in trotting around the globe and travelling extensively. For years, he spent summers in Paris and winters in Washington, DC. In 1907 he pubished this Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography. This work contains the birth of forces that Adams saw as replacing Chrisianity and has the reputation of being the the most important non-fiction work of the 20th century and I am hard pressed to disagree!

A meditation on an era.......2005-08-27

This books stands apart in autobiographies. Unlike autobiographies written in vanity at the crest of success, this one is written as a melancholic meditation on life, at the crest of what Henry Adams thought was his failure. Adams always refers to himself in third person and in the humorous and abject epithets giving the autobiography the character of a novel or a biography.

Henry Adams, was a historian, journalist and political private secretary, with intrests as varied as physics, chemistry, geology, evolution, mathematics, politics, history, and diplomacy. He was the son of a diplomat, Charles Francis Adams. His grand-father was John Quincy Adams the 6th president of USA and great-grand father was John Adams, the 2nd president.

Despite being one of the greatest American historians, with a successful career in history, journalism and literature, Adams regarded himself as a failure because he was inconsequential in politics and society as compared to his forefathers and his education based on eighteenth century principles of the founding fathers of USA, imparted through his relatives, peers, school, socity and the Harvard College, was unsuitable to meet the challenges of the world he was to grow into - the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Adams believed that the law of acceleration of forces in history lead to a situation where a person trained for a certain level of complexity finds himself at the mercy of forces of a higher complexity as he grows up. This was his theory of history, intimately derived from his experience of life.

He felt that all education through parents, school, college, work or life can never in its entirety prepare a person for life, because the society around you changes at an accelerating pace while your education rooted in your parents values and the value of the soceity of your childhood becomes obsolete by the time you need to put it to use. So at each stage of life man always needs to begin his education anew.

The merit of this books goes beyond just and insight into education, life or failure. It also illuminates the time from 1838 to 1905. Adams was close to political, literary, artistic and scientific circles in Europe and America and travelled far and wide visiting England, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Egypt, Mexico and Cuba, some of these countries again and again.

The books is rich in literary style and historical, literary, scientific, cultural, economic and sociological insights as it analyzes self, peoples, times and cultures.

The cold classic of an unlikeable genius .......2004-10-27

This is one of the great American books. The scion of one of America's most patrician families tells the story of his education. And his education is the story of his disillusionment with the time and world he comes to live in, and his idealization of a long lost medieval world. The Virgin of the medieval Catholic vision which represents for Adams an organic harmony is opposed and contradicted by the Dynamo of his own world. And that Dynamo is of scientific and technological progress accelerating at such an intense pace that the sense of the world, the center falls apart . And the Adams born to the heart of America's founding elite feels himself increasingly not at home in the world. The majestic tone, the third person narrative, the whole detached way he tells his own story prevents the reader from the most intense kind of sympathy with him. And yet his vision of a world somehow come apart in going too far and too fast in directions we do not understand does speak to us today.
There are of course other aspects of the richness of the work, including the insight into the political worlds of the Washington of his time.
But there is too a sense of an elite observer for whom the America of successive waves of immigration is not the real America . And there is a sense of Miniver Cheevy child of scorn cursing the day that he was born, of that is the ' old- line aristrocat ' who feel these new and other Americans have stolen his home and place from him.
This is a work which much can be learned , and which certainly has much to be admired in it intellectually. But it is not a work nor is it written by a person , that warms the heart, moves and inspires.

Andrew Wyeth: Master Drawings from the Artist's Collection

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Seeing the foundations; the pencil studies of Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth: Master Drawings from the Artist's Collection
Henry Adams , and Andrew Wyeth
Manufacturer: Brandywine River Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0295986158

Book Description

This book presents drawings that Andrew Wyeth retained for his own collection -- many preliminary to well-known paintings. Created over more than five decades, from 1951 to 2005, they range from portraits of family members and friends to vibrant depictions of objects, landscapes, and buildings in and around the artist's homes in Pennsylvania and Maine. These works reflect the insight, emotion, and technique that are uniquely his. They demonstrate Wyeth's extraordinary skill as a draftsman and the accuracy with which he sees light and dark, enabling him to model forms while suggesting the very substance and texture of what he sees.

"I have always been powerfully affected by Andrew Wyeth's drawings and studies -- particularly those studies that do not attempt to cover the whole surface of the paper but instead focus on a few elements, so that the image seems to emerge magically from the empty white background, rather like a photograph that we observe in the process of development." -- Henry Adams

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Seeing the foundations; the pencil studies of Andrew Wyeth.......2007-01-05

I have had great admiration for the work of Wyeth for years now, but this book blew me away with its reproductions of Wyeth's pencil drawings. While most are unfinished pencil studies done as preparatory work for his watercolors and temperas, his skill and technique are awe inspiring. He has the ability to realistically render both the texture of an object and the effect of light on that object without appearing overworked or labored. There is a freshness, immediacy, and sense of spontaneity in all of the drawings.

As someone who wishes to improve his own ability to draw, I found the unfinished nature of the drawings enlightening, allowing me to see the manner in which Wyeth works. It also highlights his ability to see the essentials of what interests him about a scene, and then capture that essence quickly and masterfully.

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