Henry Brooks Adams, a historian and writer, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 16, 1838. He was the third son of Frances Adams Sr. and Abigail Brooks Adams. As the grandson of President John Adams and the great grandson of John Quincy Adams, Henry enjoyed a privileged childhood, but he bore the burden of high expectations. He attended private school in Boston and graduated from Harvard in 1858. He began writing during his years at Harvard, publishing his first stories in Harvard Magazine. He studied law at the University of Berlin and the University of Dresden, but did not complete a degree, choosing instead to travel through Europe.
Adams returned to Boston late in 1860 and went to work as his father's secretary during the elder Adams' second congressional term. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, his father was appointed minister to England and Henry accompanied him to London, serving as his personal secretary until his father's resignation in 1868. Also working as London correspondent to the New York Times during 1861-1862, Henry Adams wrote of Britain's reaction to the Civil War.
After returning to Washington, Adams writing financial and political articles for New York newspapers. After another brief trip to Europe, his family pressed him into taking a job as associate professor at Harvard, a position he held from 1870 through 1877. A gifted teacher, he preferred the other position he held concurrently as editor of the North American Review. In 1876 he was awarded his Ph.D. from Harvard.
On June 27, 1872 Adams married Marian Hooper and embarked on a year-long trip through Europe. The couple had no children.
In 1878 Adams began writing full time. His first two books, biographies of Albert Gallatin, published in 1879, and John Randolph, published in 1882, gained him a reputation as a serious historian. In 1880, he caused a stir with Democracy: An American Novel, an expose of political corruption in Washington, which he published anonymously and did not recognize during his lifetime.
In 1885, following the suicide of his beloved wife, he embarked on a long journey to Japan, returning to Washington to finish his nine-volume History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison, published in 1889-1891. During the next few years, he traveled extensively. He received an honorary LL.D. from Western Reserve University, and served as president of the American Historical Association.
Feeling that his books were unappreciated, Adams retired from political life to pursue an interest in Medieval studies. From this period came the books Mont Saint Michel and Chartres published in 1904, widely recognized as one of the best studies of Medieval thought, and, in 1906 his greatest book, The Education of Henry Adams, a reflection on his own place in society. In it he proposes theories that are credited with revolutionizing historical thought.
Adams died in Washington on March 27, 1918. In 1919 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously for The Education of Henry Adams
Source: Henry Brooks Adams The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An encyclopedia in eighteen volumes, edited by A.W. Ward, A.R. Waller, W.P. Trent, J. Erskine, S.P. Sherman, and C. Van Doren. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons; Cambridge, England: University Press, 1907–21. Published online by Bartleby.com (January, 2000); Henry Brooks Adams The Learning Network Inc. (2000-2002); Henry Brooks Adams English Department, Vienna University.