The Education of Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams, is often cited as the best non-fiction book in English in the twentieth century.  I suppose it is given this designation because Henry Adams, as the great-grandson, and grandson, of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, was an heir to the first great American political family,and had the rare gifts to chronicle the end of an era.

The Education is, in a way, a chronicle of the long decline of this family.  Henry’s father, Charles Adams, was the Ambassador to England during Lincoln presidency, and played no small role in preventing England from entering to war on the side of the Confederacy.  But after him, no Adams would ever play a prominent role in national politics.  It simply ended, and Henry Adams was a witness.

This very long and detailed work is a combination elegy of colonial and early American national politics, catty, name dropping memoir, as well as the decline and fall of one man, Henry Adams, who, due to his talents and unique position as an historian and writer, was able to capture the changes in American politics and society from the Civil War and its end to the dawn of the twentieth century.  Failure, the theme of the work, is the character Henry Adams most often turns to to make the changes that American has undergone.

This places Henry Adams in a unique and odd place.  Of the many members of the Adams family who have been accomplished on the national stage as politicians or scholars of both, three will be remembered.  John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and the man who penned their and his epitaph, Henry Adams.  

Great American Short Fiction

Great American Short Stories is the kind of book I have form a sentimental bond with; a Dover Thrift Book, it reminds me of the days of old, when Dover Books, in their flimsy paper or plastic covers, were located near the register of a bookstore, like an impulse buy of candy or gum at a Supermarket. 

This volume contains great American classics: "The Tell-Tale Heart," Melville's "Bartleby," Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp," "To Build a Fire," by Jack London, "The Real Thing" by Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," plus stories by Mark Twain, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles Chesnutt, Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane, Willa Cather, Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway.

There are some stories here that readers will be very familiar yet.  Still more that they once were from high school English class, and now can revisit in this volume.   

Regardless, not a bad value for three dollars (in an age when a latte costs far more).

The Enchiridion or Manual of Epictetus

The Enchiridion or Manual of Epictetus, is a shorter summary of Epictetus much larger and more inclusive book on Stoic philosophy, The Discourses.   

For many familiar with The Discourses, the Enchiridion can seem a little thin, and the editors and compilers of the work even admit that some of the material is, in all probability, not from Epictetus. 

 

But if you do not have the stamina to hit The Discourses, this small book is an excellent way to tip one’s toes into the ideas of this great Stoic.

Foundations of the Fourth Turning of Hasidism

Foundations of the Fourth Turning of Hasidism: A Manifesto, touted as Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z’l, last work, is really a stigmatization of some of his life’s objectives.  Nothing new is said here, it is more like a coda of this rabbi’s work.  So unless you are a big fan of the rabbi's work, this book is probably not worth getting.

Rabbi Zalman has a great deal of work out there, some quite good, some no worth the effort.  Like the old style Chasidic masters, he was far better life and in person that in print.

Torah Studies

Torah studies are a series of talks/writings, from the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, and span the topics of each week’s Torah portions, selectively provided.

This book is not for the Torah beginner.  Despite being edited for content to appeal to a wider audience, it still has distinctly upper level spiritual concerns, and even with the excellent introductions and notes, the meaning of these essays can be opaque.

But for the reader who wants a bit of Chasidic teaching, relatively unfiltered, and is not shy about working with the text, this is an engaging and fascinating read.   

The Rebbe has a simple message despite the complexity of the presentation. God is everywhere, and it is the duty of every Jew to find God and see the manifest presence of God in this world.