Other editions of book Democracy;: An American novel

The authorship of DEMOCRACY: AN AMERICAN NOVEL, published anonymously in 1880, was not made public until after the death of American historian HENRY BROOKS ADAMS (1838-1918), a member of the Adams political family and a journalist dedicated to exposing corruption. In this fictional tale with real-life relevance to late 19th-century politics, an election sometime in the 1870s has given rise to a new president by the name of Jacob. Against this backdrop, readers find New Yorker Madeleine Lee moving to Washington to revive her social life. She quickly starts playing hostess to a number of important politicians, including John Carrington and Silas Ratcliffe, men of opposite demeanors, both of whom are looking for a wife. Entwined with this comedy of manners are Adams's own commentary on politics, corruption, and the great political issues of the day, including suffrage and evolution.

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - FOR reasons which many persons thought ridiculous, Mrs. Lightfoot Lee decided to pass the winter in Washington. She was in excellent health, but she said that the climate would do her good. In New York she had troops of friends, but she suddenly became eager to see again the very small number of those who lived on the Potomac. It was only to her closest intimates that she honestly acknowledged herself to be tortured by ennui. Since her husband's death, five years before, she had lost her taste for New York society; she had felt no interest in the price of stocks, and very little in the men who dealt in them; she had become serious. What was it all worth, this wilderness of men and women as monotonous as the brown stone houses they lived in? In her despair she had resorted to desperate measures. She had read philosophy in the original German, and the more she read, the more she was disheartened that so much culture should lead to nothing - nothing.

First published anonymously, March 1880, and soon in various unauthorized editions. It wasn't until the 1925 edition that Adams was listed as author. Henry Adams remarked (ironically as usual), "The wholesale piracy of Democracy was the single real triumph of my life."--it was very popular, as readers tried to guess who the author was and who the characters really were. Chapters XII and XIII were originally misnumbered.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.