Henry Adams and the making of America
By: Garry Wills
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 467
ISBN-13: 9780618134304
Subjects: Historiography; Geschichtsschreibung; Historians; Geschiedschrijving; Biography; History
Description: In this new view of the greatest historian of the nineteenth century, historian Wills showcases Henry Adams's little-known but seminal study of the early United States and elicits from it fresh insights on the paradoxes that roil America to this day. Adams drew on his own southern fixation, extensive foreign travel, political service in Lincoln's White House, and much more to invent the study of history as we know it. His chronicle established new standards for employing archival sources, firsthand reportage, eyewitness accounts, and other techniques that have become the essence of modern history. Adams's innovations went beyond the technical; he posited an ironic view of the legacy of Jefferson and Madison: they strove to shield the young country from "foreign entanglements," a standing army, a central bank, and a federal bureaucracy, among other hallmarks of "big government"--yet by the end of their tenures they had permanently entrenched all of these things in American society. This is the "American paradox" that defines us today.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1: The making of an historian; title: Grandmother Louisa and the south; title: Boston historians; title: Civil war politics; title: Postwar politics; title: Historical method; title: Historical artistry; title: 2: The making of a nation; title: I: Jefferson's two terms; title: A people's history: the history, volume one; title: Jefferson's success: the history, volume one; title: Reaching out: the history, volume two; title: Three foes: the history, volume three; title: Anything but war: the history, volume four; title: II: Madison's two terms; title: False dawn: the history, volume five; title: War: the history, volume six; title: Naval history: the history, volume six; title: The war's second year: the history, volume seven; title: The war's third year: the history, volume eight; title: Shame and glory: the history, volume eight; title: Peace and nationalism: the history, volume nine; title: Nation-making: the history, volume nine.