Volume 52, Number 18 · November 17, 2005
The Unread Masterpiece
By Edmund S. Morgan
Henry Adams and the Making of America
by Garry Wills
Houghton Mifflin, 467 pp., $30.00
In a recent discussion of American literary classics in these pages, none of the writings of Henry Adams was mentioned. Probably no one missed them, or if anyone did, there might have been some sort of homage to The Education of Henry Adams. The guardians of the canon have often granted it a place. But they have seldom included the nine volumes with the awkward titles: History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (four volumes) and History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (five volumes). These might qualify as classics in the sense that they are more often praised than read. Garry Wills, however, bestows on them the accolade of 'the non-fiction prose masterpiece of the nineteenth century in America.'
Review, 3495 words
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