WRITER

Henry Adams

1838 - 1918

Photo of Henry Adams

Icon of person Henry Adams

Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, Abraham Lincoln's ambassador to the United Kingdom. The posting influenced the younger man through the experience of wartime diplomacy, and absorption in English culture, especially the works of John Stuart Mill. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Henry Adams has received more than 887,713 page views. His biography is available in 32 different languages on Wikipedia. Henry Adams is the 3,810th most popular writer (down from 3,707th in 2019), the 4,878th most popular biography from United States (up from 4,950th in 2019) and the 405th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 890k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 50.81

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 32

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.77

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.43

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres
Mont-Saint-Michel (Abbey : France), Le Mont-Saint-Michel (France), Mont St. Michel, France
Democracy
Fiction, Widows, Legislators
The education of Henry Adams
Biography, Historians, Massachusetts Historical Society
The Education of Henry Adams is the autobiography of the Bostonian Henry Adams. As he approached his seventieth birthday when "the mind wakes to find itself looking blankly into the void of death," Adams wrote and privately printed 100 copies of his "Education", a reflection on the incredible events of the 19th century. Adams meditates on his sense of disorientation with the scientific and technological expansion over his lifetime. After his death the book was commercially published, going on to become a best-seller and to win the Pulitzer Prize.
History of the United States of America
Politics and government, History
Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Christian Abbesses, Correspondence, Love-letters
One of the world’s most celebrated and tragic love affairs. Through the letters between Abelard and Heloise, we follow the path of their 12th-century romance, from its reckless and ecstatic beginnings when Heloise became Abelard’s pupil, through the suffering of public scandal and enforced secret marriage, to their eventual separation.
The Education of Henry Adams
Few books have so firmly established their place in American literature as The Education of Henry Adams. When it was first published in 1918, it became an instant bestseller and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. More than eighty years later, in an age of self-reflection and exhaustive memoirs, The Education still stands as perhaps the greatest American autobiography. The son of a diplomat, the grandson and great-grandson of two American presidents, a man of extraordinary gifts and learning in his own right, Henry Adams recounts his life from his birth in 1838 and upbringing as a Boston Brahmin, through the Civil War, the nation's industrial expansion, and its emergence as a world power. In the process, he gives us a brilliant history of a changing country as well as a thoughtful, humane, often tender exploration of himself. From the original publisher, this edition of The Education of Henry Adams, newly introduced by Donald Hall, celebrates and honors this classic work on what it means to be an American.

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Henry Adams ranks 3,810 out of 7,302Before him are Torgny Lindgren, Francis Scott Key, Gennadius of Massilia, Alexander Volkov, Jane Wilde, and Ramiro de Maeztu. After him are Masha Gessen, Taslima Nasrin, Richard Hammond, Carmen Martín Gaite, Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah, and Francis Beaumont.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1838, Henry Adams ranks 73Before him are Mahmoud Sami el-Baroudi, Yisrael Meir Kagan, James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, Karl Davydov, John Hay, and Emil Frey. After him are Valeriano Weyler, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Raffaello Giovagnoli, Jules Méline, Édouard Colonne, and Eli Lilly. Among people deceased in 1918, Henry Adams ranks 120Before him are Albert Ballin, Robbie Ross, Peter Rosegger, Margit Kaffka, Ulisse Dini, and Alexander Protopopov. After him are Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg, Eduard von Keyserling, Nikolai Ruzsky, Marianne Cope, George Coșbuc, and Vasily Safonov.

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Others Deceased in 1918

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Henry Adams ranks 4,878 out of 20,380Before him are Todd Phillips (1970), Daniel Kirkwood (1814), Woody Herman (1913), Fred Thompson (1942), George Catlin (1796), and Jane Powell (1929). After him are Gianni Russo (1943), Seka (1954), Michael S. Hart (1947), Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930), Joel McCrea (1905), and Helen Merrill (1930).

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Henry Adams ranks 405Before him are Hal Clement (1922), Marilyn French (1929), Brandon Sanderson (1975), Gloria Vanderbilt (1924), Charles Grandison Finney (1792), and Francis Scott Key (1779). After him are David Brin (1950), James Russell Lowell (1819), A. Merritt (1884), Marianne Moore (1887), Herman Wouk (1915), and Margaret Weis (1948).