Henry Adams (1838-1918), American author, historian, and critic is most famous for his

memoir The Education of Henry Adams (1918) which he was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for in 1919.

Henry Brooks Adams was born on 16 February 1838 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were
Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), diplomat and writer, and Abigail Brown Brooks (1808-1889).
Being the great-grandson of the second American President John Adams, and the grandson of the
sixth President John Quincy Adams provided for a certain number of advantages in young Henry's life.
He spent much time in the summers at his grandfather's home, and was surrounded by culture and
wealth. The family's library was the largest private collection at the time and young Henry spent much
time in it studying voraciously such subjects as Greek and Roman literature, mathematics, politics,
physics, and astronomy. His father's position of power in politics as congressman and Vice Presidential
candidate in 1848 also served him well, for he was surrounded by high-ranking diplomats and world
leaders all his life.

Adams attended Harvard College from 1854-1858, and was a contributor to Harvard Magazine. In the
fall of 1858 he set sail with a number of his fellow graduates on the "Grand Tour" of Europe. He
attended Berlin University to study civil law and for the next year he visited various parts of Germany,
Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. For a time he became a correspondent for the Boston Daily
Courier and his letters home included an interview with patriot Garibaldi. Over his lifetime Adams
would amass an extraordinary collection of correspondence with many prominent friends and
dignitaries of his day. After ten weeks spent in Paris, Adams left law school and returned to
Massachusetts, and between 1861 and 1868 acted as his father's private secretary, who had been
newly appointed by Abraham Lincoln as Minister to Great Britain. Whilst they were in Washington he
was correspondent for Boston's Daily Advertiser. They next travelled to England and Adams was
correspondent for The New York Times. He wrote a number of essays critical of congress, free trade,
and diplomatic relations during this time, many published in the influential journal North American
Review. Upon his return to America in 1868 he became a lobbyist and freelance political journalist.
Ulysses S. Grant was a favourite target of Adam's mordant wit and scathing critique, his articles
appearing in such prestigious journals as The Nation and the New York Evening Post.

Satisfying his intellectual pursuits, 1870 saw Adams appointed assistant professor of history at
Harvard university and for the next six years he taught medieval English, European, and American
history. "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." Politics still hot in his
veins however he also became editor of theNorth American Review. On 27 June 1872 Adams married
Marian Hooper (1843-1885) and they set sail for their honeymoon, in Europe and Egypt. Whilst in
England Adams visited with a number of his friends, political figures and scholars. In 1877 he resigned
from Harvard to undertake a study of the papers in the state archive of Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary
of the Treasury; Life of Albert Gallatin was published in 1879.

The Adam's maintained a close circle of friends, entertaining lavishly at their home senators,
diplomats, attorneys, and a number of foreign visitors. After extensive travels and research, Adams
wrote a treatise on corruption in Washington,Democracy, an American Novel (anonymous; 1880)
which was widely read in England and North America. His pseudonym Frances Snow Compton
published Esther: A Novelin 1884. In 1885 his wife Marian Adams committed suicide, and a year later
his father Charles Francis Adams died. The grieving Adams moved into the new home that he and his
wife had a friend design, on Lafayette Square in Washington. His mother died in 1889.

History of the United States - 1801 to 1817 (1889-1891) objectively details the time period during the
diplomatic relations and administration of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Whilst on
another tour of the Pacific with painter John La Farge in 1890, Adams made the acquaintance of Marau
Taaroa, and through his guidance and friendship, penned her Memoirs of Marau Taaroa, Last Queen of
Tahiti(1893). Adams continued to travel the world, including Mexico and the Caribbean Islands in
1894. After leaving the Republican Party to join the Democrats, the inside view was disenchanting to
Adams and he slowly withdrew from his political pursuits; by 1902 the separation was
complete. "Practical politics consists in ignoring facts." He now delved further into his historical
studies, including a life-long appreciation and study of architecture and writing a number of
biographies. Mont Saint Michel and Chartres: A Study of Thirteenth-Century Unity was published in
1913 with photographs and illustrations. He had released it privately years before, and now his
meditations on the medieval world and its French cathedrals was well-received. In 1912 he had
suffered a cerebral thrombosis which partially paralysed him. Henry Adams died 27 March 1918 and
lies buried beside his wife in the Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia.