The Education of Henry Adams (The 100 Greatest Books of All Time)

xiv, 530 pp. Full dark brown leather, gilt titles and decorations, all edges gilt, silk moire endpapers, ribbon marker bound in. Preface by Henry Cabot Lodge, illustrations by Jerry Pinkney. "The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in early old age, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately circulating copies of a limited edition printed at his own expense. Commercial publication had to await its author's 1918 death, whereupon it won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize."