Better in Darkness: A Biography of Henry Adams : His Second Life, 1862-1891 (Biography of Henry Adams)

Rating:
Summary: Highly interpetative but amazing
Review: This is, quite simply, one of those amazing biographies (George Painter's Marcel Proust in the '50s comes to mind) where the intrinsic interest of the subject and the searching intelligence of the author combine to make a great achievement. One could simply say, If you feel an affinity for Henry Adams, read this book, and one would be right. But it goes beyond Adams as an object of study and engages in -- highly interesting and never tendentious -- speculation; but the speculation is always interesting and to a sophisticated reader, identifiable as such. I hope this book, along with the companion volumes, reaches more readers -- any one interested in American history or letters, or for that matter the human soul, should read it.