BROOKS ADAMS: AMERICAN PROPHET

Utilizing for the first time the illuminating Adams papers, a comprehensive biography of the most neglected and obstreperous genius in the Adams family has at last been prepared. Mr. Beringause takes his subject in the round- as scion of a presidential line, brother and intellectual upheaval-er of Henry Adams, and especially as a defiant, scornful, gloom-ridden personality in his own right. From an unpromising student and confused adolescent, Brooks suddenly developed into an authority on constitutional law and political struggle; he became an intimate friend and powerful influence upon Teddy Roosevelt; he wrote, above all, The Law of Civitization and Decay. This work, founded upon a deep insight into economic forces, anticipated and shaped the thinking of Max Weber, Veblen and Spengler. The maturing of Brooks Adams is also the story of a young man's pained efforts to reconcile with and emerge from the rule of his father and the loyalties, bondages and challenging achievements of an unsurpassed family heritage. Mr. Beringause's biography is distinguished for its grasp and unification of the most complex and contradictory material; lacking in color, it possesses to a high degree clarity and prudence. For a serious market.