text: I had heard of the importance, and significance of "The Education of Henry Adams" for a long time. I finally determined I needed to read it.
  
  I acutally read it twice, and found less in it the second time than the first. 
  
  I am sorry  I missed the greatness of this book. I am sure there was something wrong with me, but I found it to be incredibly unimpressive. 
  
  Perhaps this came from the fact that Henry Adams was not a likeable man. He was famous for holding court in his home near the White House, and making caustic and negative comments about every President who lived there. 
  
  Granted, he lived in Washington at a time when there were plenty of second-rate occupants of the White House. But the thought of people wasting their time trying to please  a blue-blooded snob like Adams depresses me. Why did anyone bother? He lived in an atmosphere of snobbery, sharp-tongues, clever remarks, and brilliant conversation. The world went on without him, truth be told, and he contributed less than the people who walked by his house each day. 
  
  He was a very good historian in his time. But who reads his books now? Not very many. In short, his own work was not as long-lasting as he would have wanted it to be. Maybe the influence of some of the Presidents he mocked lasted longer than the published and purchased work of Henry Adams.
  
  "The Education of Henry Adams" does not have much real information. He got education in one place, none in others. Surely, the suicide of his wife provided some very painful education for Henry--but he wrote nothing about it in his book. 
  
  When Eric Sevareid wrote "Not So Wild a Dream," it was compared to "The Education of Henry Adams." That was meant as a compliment. Oddly, I think Sevareid's book is much, much better. Sevareid wrote of America, the common man, the war, and what it all meant to him. Adams needed to get out more. He did not see America--not the America built by the common citizen who put it all together, and defended it.  I gained a trememdous amount from Sevareid. I cannot say the same for the work of Henry Adams. 
  
  Again, a lot of this might be me. Perhaps I read the book at a bad time. Maybe I needed to read it a third time. I do not know. I do know I do not think this is a great American classic. Forgive, please, my ignorance.
  