Henry Adams has been called an indispensable figure in American thought. Although he famously "took his own life" in the autobiographical Education of Henry Adams, his letters -- more intimate and unbuttoned, though hardly unselfconscious -- are themselves indispensable for an understanding of the man and his times. This selection represents every major private and public event in Adams's life from 1858 to 1918 and confirms his reputation as one of...