Presents the life of United States historian Henry Adams focusing on his youth, family, education, marriage, and journalism career. Includes information on his interest in the formation of the nation under Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Madison. Also analyzes the historic methods of Henry Adams.
Provides an overview of Western historical thinking from ancient times to the present and explores such issues as historiography and historical methodology.
University of Chicago historian McNeill looks at "living myth systems," such as liberalism and Marxism, as well as dead myths, such as Nazism; he warns that the electoral process, and the "democratic myths" behind it, are in danger of being made irrelevant by powerful private-interest groups. In these essays and lectures, McNeill maintains that borrowings between ancient civilizations shaped the modern world even more than he had previously believed.
Discusses twelve Greek and Roman historians, the methods they used in writing of the events of the day, and how they differ from our present day concepts of a historian.
The popular historian shares his views of his own life and on the history of America, in a series of reflections on the Founding Fathers, Native Americans, Theodore Roosevelt, World War II, civil rights, Vietnam, and the writing of history.
