Not now.

Mostly a superb read filled with great wit from the main characters' letters and conversation. Their age much parallels today. This book also gave me a different, more critical angle on the great Teddy Roosevelt, who, although an intimate of this circle, was not much liked by them. The only blemish is the author's 90s tendency to psychologize certain events and motives of the actors, which is of dubious value and truth. ( )

An absorbing, extraordinarily well-written portrait of a group of friends, centered on Henry Adams and his wife, Clover, who tragically committed suicide and is memorialized with an Auguste Saint Gaudens statue in Rock Creek Park Cemetery. Others included Clarence King, a gifted geologist who never recaptured his early glory (he founded the U.S. Geological Survey), and John Hay, who started his career as an assistant secretary to Abraham Lincoln and ended it as secretary of state to Theodore Roosevelt. These guys lived through some interesting times, and they were often in the thick of it, especially Hay. Adams, best remembered today for his book "The Education of Henry Adams," could never stand to plunge into politics like his exalted forbears. But he did live in Washington, D.C., by choice and observed it all at close hand. I wonder if, today, he'd be writing for The Onion. Or perhaps keeping a more select, acerbic blog of his own. ( )

Excellently written, and tells a great story. ( )