If you know a lot about the history of the second half of the 19th century, you will probably enjoy this book much more than the casual and the curious, as Adams does a lot of name-dropping without any kind of footnotes or contextual explanation. I was especially interested in Adams' description of his time as private secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, Lincoln's ambassador in England during the Civil War, and the diplomatic and political machinations that ocurred while trying to secure Britain's official neutrality.

There are some slow parts of the book, and his attempt to conclude with an overarching theory of history, detailed in scientific language, is unsuccessful in hindsight. Adams' ideas about the accelerating progress of technology and thought is really the culmination of Englightenment thinking, which would be disavowed by the modernists ten years after his death. Perhaps Adams would have revised his thinking if he had lived to see the cataclysm of 1914, and it is ironic how in the last lines of the book he wistfully hopes for a centenial reunion with his best friends King and Hay, to observe the progress and peace that humanity had created. The year: 1938. ( )

superb book

I'd first heard of Adams in Gore Vidal's novel "Empire". That novel introduced me to people like John Hay, Secretary to Lincoln, and later Secretary of State itself. These memoirs enlightened me about the stellar politician John Hay was, thanks to the lifelong friendship between Adams and Hay.
Adams centres his memoirs on his rather barren quest to find meaning and understanding through "education". This theme tends to become tiresome.
Adams' period as Private Secretary to his father, First Minister to Great Britain during the Civil War, is especially revealing. How close the British were to declaring for the Confederacy surprised me. Similarly, how surprised were the British by the Union's successes.
He is fully admiring of John Hay, to whom he gives credit for advancing American skill and intelligence in the diplomatic manoeuvrings that produced an alliance, or at least a commonality of understanding, between Britain, France, Germany and USA at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
I was a little confused by Adams' dynamic theory of history, but then so was he by the seismic shifts brought about by particle physics and the industrial behemoth.
Adams' life was his ever-flowering education.

Adams was born in 1838 into a family that had made American history, but his role was to be that of an observer, from the Civil War up to 1905. Perhaps the most interesting section comes early on, when Henry was serving as secretary to his father, who was US minister to Britain during the Civil War. Adams' discussion of Britain's role in that conflict broke new ground for me: I knew much of the British establishment supported the South, but I didn't know how close the Liberal Government came to recognizing the South as a country. Henry was in Washington during the Grant Administration, and his view of Grant is highly negative. He was also an intimate observer in the 1890's. Sometimes Adams' negativity (about himself more than anything else) becomes burdensome, and one misses the personal element. Still, this is key reading for those interested in the period. ( )

Henry Adams, the grandson of JQ Adams, records the story of his life from the perspective of his search for a proper education. His is a life of privilege, allowing him the time to ponder the world and his role in it without the encumbrance of traditional employment. He questions formal education, like his time at Harvard, and feels most of what is taught is useless at best. Adams, because of his lineage, has a front-row seat to observe the events of the nineteenth century, and at times foresees problems on the world stage. Although he has no need for an income, he does earn money by writing his observations.

I'm glad I read the book. It represents a unique perspective. I didn't think it was particularly well written, but I do acknowledge that he never meant it to be published for a wide distribution. That could explain its rough edges. I found that I needed assistance to get through it, so I approached each chapter by reading a Cliff Notes summary first, just to get my head around where he was heading, then I opened up the LibriVox recording and listened while I was reading. That helped immensely. Recently I read an article that encouraged a reader to stretch themselves every once in a while. This book was once of those times for me. ( )