Surveying national events from his birth through the era of the Civil War and the subsequent economic expansion of the United States, Adams’s distinctive autobiography is also a brilliant work of historical acumen. It depicts, with imaginative aplomb, the cultural transformations set in motion as the onrushing realities of the twentieth century overwhelmed the stately expectations of the nineteenth. A work of extraordinary eloquence and discernment, it has earned its author a place in literary history worthy of his illustrious pedigree.