Concededly the most important autobiography that has yet been written in America, The Education of Henry Adams has exercised an enormous influence upon a generation now in its full maturity. An edition of one hundred copies, printed privately in 1907, had aroused profound admiration among scholars. When it was published for general circulation, in 1918, it immediately won and has since held an assured place among the significant works in American literature. This chronicle of a brilliant career and a constant spiritual quest is one of our great national literary treasures.