“He is our finest letter writer, our outstanding nineteenth-century historian, and, with the sole exception of Benjamin Franklin, our most iconic memoirist,” historian David S. Brown writes of Henry Adams at the beginning of his biography The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams. This week on The World in Time, Lewis H. Lapham and Brown discuss Adams’ early years and his “posthumous life” after the death of his wife, his most influential writings, and his many friendships with familiar figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with David S. Brown, author of The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams.

Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Elizabeth “Lisette” Prince. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.