Authority and Alliance in the Letters of Henry Adams

Book excerpt: Argues that radical cultural change in the late 19th-century US intensified a set of complex rhetorical imperatives, which the letter was a genre ideally positioned to serve, and draws supporting evidence from the letters of historian Henry Adams. Concludes that faced with isolation and alienation from the quickly industrializing and urbanizing society, he chose letters as a medium over which he retained rhetorical control, and could therefore use to seek alliance and resistance. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR