Both Sides of the Ocean: A Biography of Henry Adams His First Life 1838-1862

About this book

This is the first biography of Henry Adamss early years based on the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society and other collections including those of Harvard University and newspaper archives not used by previous writers It presents a mostly unknown hidden and highly self-conscious young man who realized at the age of twenty-four that he had completed a full life and would have to remake himself. By that age Henry Adams had accomplished something which should give him historical status to equal his father the minister to the Court of Saint James; his grandfather sixth president of the United States; or his great-grandfather the second president. Young Adams secretly positioned himself at the critical turning point of the American Civil War and as much as anyone determined its outcome. Writing anonymously from inside the U.S. legation in London as regular correspondent for the New York Times he predecided the outcome of the White House meetings which ended the Trent affair and prevented Great Britain from joining the Confederacy in war against the United States. The Confederacy was thereby doomed; the Anglo-American "special relationship" dates from Adamss secret success. This is the first volume in a trilogy. Unlike previous biographies that see Adams primarily as a literary figure Mr. Chalfants understanding is new assertive and controversial: the Adams that emerges in these pages is a powerful blend of behind-the-scenes politician and a leader of the countrys leaders in several fields simultaneously.