History of the United States During the Administration of James Madison; Books V and VI and Books VII, VIII and IX
New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1930. Presumed First printing thus. Hardcover. 2 volumes. Format is approximately 5 inches by 7.5 inches. Pagination for the First volume is [8], 428, [2], 458 pages and for the Second volume [10], 417, [3], 385, [3]. 369. and [1] pages. Footnotes. Maps (some with color). List of Maps and Plans. General Index. DJs have some wear, tears, soiling and chips. This is part of Adams' History of the United States. Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he was 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. After the American Civil War, he became a political journalist who entertained America's foremost intellectuals at his homes in Washington and Boston. During his lifetime, he was best known for his History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a nine-volume work, praised for its literary style. His posthumously published memoir, The Education of Henry Adams, won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to be named by the Modern Library as the best English-language nonfiction book of the 20th century. One of the greatest histories ever written in English, Henry Adams’s History of the United States is remarkable for its fullness of detail, its penetrating insight, and above all its strong, lively, and ironic style. With a cast of characters including Aaron Burr, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Gallatin, John Randolph, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and the complex, brilliantly delineated characters of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The grandson of one president and the great-grandson of another, Adams gained access to hitherto secret archives in Europe. The diplomatic documents that lace the history lend an intimacy to the narrative. Written in a strong, lively style pointed with Adams’s wit, the History chronicles the consolidation of American character, and poses questions about the future course of democracy. Writing at the height of his powers, Adams understood the true subject as the consolidation of the American nation and character, and his treatment has never been surpassed. Covering the eight years spanning the presidency of James Madison, this volume chronicles “Mr. Madison’s War”—the most bungled war in American history. The President and Congress delay while the United States is bullied and insulted by both England and France; then they plunge the country into the War of 1812 without providing the troops, monies, or fleets to wage it. The incompetence of the commanders leads to a series of disasters—including the burning of the White House and Capitol while Madison and his cabinet, fleeing from an invading army, watch from the nearby hills of Maryland and Virginia.
The war has its heroes, too: William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe and Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, Commodores Perry and Decatur and the officers and crew of the Constitution. As Adams tells it, though, disgrace, is averted by other means: the ineptitude of the British, the skill of the American artillerymen and privateers, and the diplomatic brilliance of Albert Gallatin and John Quincy Adams, who negotiated the peace treaty at Ghent. The history, full of reversals and paradoxes, ends with the largest irony of all: the United States, the apparent loser of the war, emerges as a great new world power destined to eclipse its European rivals. Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: James Madison, War of 1812, Dearborn, Wilkinson, Fort Mims, Privateering, James Monroe, Lundy's Lane, Bladensburg, Hartford Convention, Treaty of Ghent, Battle of New Orleans, Blockade, Embargo, Fort Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry, William Henry Harrison
[Book #80958]
Price: $70.00