Brooks Adams

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Brooks Adams, 1910

Brooks Adams (* 24. June 1848 in Quincy , Massachusetts ; † 13. February 1927 in Boston , Massachusetts) was an American historian who especially through his book The Law of Civilization and Decay ( The law of civilization and decay ) got known. He was a member of the well-known Adams family .

Life

Adams was a great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams who were both President of the United States . His father was Congressman and diplomat Charles Francis Adams, Sr. His three older brothers were politician John Quincy Adams II , Brigadier General Charles Francis Adams, Jr., and historian and cultural philosopher Henry .

After attending school, he studied at Harvard University and graduated in 1870 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He then completed a one-year postgraduate study of law at the Law School of Harvard University. Then he was his father's secretary when he was from 1871 to 1872 judge at the Arbitration Court in Geneva on the Alabama question . After his return he settled after his lawyer admitted as a lawyer in Boston down.

He later was a lecturer at the Law School of Harvard University from 1904 to 1911 . In 1906 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1918 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Publications

As a socially critical set author , he described his pessimism regarding the future of the United States. In his books, he not only foresaw the emergence of the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union , but also the dismantling of civilization through well-founded laws of nature . He tried to stimulate thought, although not all scholars saw a lasting justification in his sometimes meticulously researched writings. In his writings he was an advocate of racism and viewed immigrants as corruption of the nation .

His most famous books include:

  • The Emancipation of Massachusetts (1887)
  • The Law of Civilization and Decay (1895)
  • America's Economic Supremacy (1900)
  • The New Empire (1902)
  • The Theory of Social Revolutions (1913)
  • The Degredation of Economic Dogma (1920)

Background literature

  • Thornton Anderson: Brooks Adams: Constructive Conservative . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 1951.
  • Arthur F. Beringause: Brooks Adams: A Biography . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1955.
  • Timothy Paul Donovan: Henry Adams and Brooks Adams: The Education of Two American Historians . University of Oklahoma Press. 1961.
  • Abigail Adams Homans: Education By Uncles: Henry, Brooks and Charles Francis Adams as remembered by their Niece . Houghton Mifflin Co. 1966.

Web links

swell

  • Meyers Großes Personenlexikon , Mannheim 1968, p. 17
  • Chambers Biographical Dictionary , Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2 , p. 10

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ digitized version
personal data
SURNAME Adams, Brooks
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Quincy , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1927
Place of death Boston , Massachusetts