The truth about this book is that it is a matter of empathy, because no one can force a reader appreciate the insights of any other person, let alone a wise, old man in his dying years. But to an empathetic reader, to the reader who can use their emotional intelligence and imagination to put themselves into Henry Adams shoes, this book is transformed into an artifact of human experience of vivid and potent importance for daily life today.
Imagine growing up in the 1840's. Imagine the agrarian necessities of life back then. Most of daily life today has been so drastically improved by technology that to imagine a time before air conditioning, before every home had appliances, before indoor plumbing—such a time seems literally impossible. But that wasn't impossible to Henry Adams. It was real life—as real as any person's real experience of daily life. That is the first part of the equation. By using empathy and creativity, one can begin to appreciate the value of this man's opinion.
To Henry Adams, the late 19th century and early 20th century were like a science-fiction novel come to life. But he doesn't spend his book just discussing the unimaginable progress of technology that boomed at the turn of the century. He has something else on his mind. He feels that the improvements in technology with result in horrific weaponry that will drastically change the face of the earth. Was he right? The military planes, tanks, and machine guns of WWI say yes, he was right. Within one man's life, the earth moved from stuffing bullets into the barrels of clumsy rifles to machine guns and sniper rifles.
The warrant behind this autobiography is tremendous and prophetic. Not only does this man's insight adequately predict the horror of WWI, it also foreshadows the absolute catastrophe of the 20th century. 108 million people died in wars in the 20th century, not counting the other millions that died under military oppression in their own nations. To put that in perspective: there weren't even 20 million people alive in America when Henry Adams was born. He was correct about the future and the horror of industrialized weaponry.
