Directions: Use the themes, questions and video clips below to teach and learn with portions of C-SPAN's American Writers program featuring Henry Adams and The Education of Henry Adams. Link to the complete video clip list to identify clip descriptions and create your own lessons. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels. Lesson Credit:
C-SPAN 2001 Teacher Fellow Chris Maloney and Curriculum Advisory Team Member, Mary Mason.

1. When was Henry Adams born? When did he die?
2. What major events took place in America's history when Adams was writing and observing America's political life? On which U.S. presidents did Adams report?
3. What would Adams think of the tenor of political debate in today's politics? What predictions did Adams make about how the United States political culture would evolve? Were these predictions accurate?
4. What were Adams' opinions of politicians and political philosophers of his day? Specifically, what were his views of Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, and Karl Marx?
5. Adams commented in his writing on the increasing "velocity of change" in American life? What did he mean? Do you see a similar heightening in the "velocity of change" in the United States today? Explain.

1. Sketch a family tree of the Adams family - point out on your tree which members of the family were in political life.
2. Where did Henry Adams live most of his life? How much time did he spend in his family's ancestral home in Quincy, Massachusetts? How much time did he spend with his grandfather John Quincy Adams, former president of the United States?
3. What was the fate of Henry Adams' wife Clover? Where is there a memorial to her in Washington, D.C. and what famous first lady was said to frequent it? Why?
4. What was the nature of Adams' religious faith? Did he demonstrate his faith in a public way with his family?
5. Did Adams enjoy his role as a member of one of the most prominent political families in American history? What were the joys and burdens of being a part of the Adams' heritage?

1. What was Henry Adams' autobiography called? What makes his reflections on his life unique among American political autobiography?
2. Did Henry Adams receive any awards for his writing? If so, what were they?
3. Describe how Adams went about his writing - When did he write? How much would he write each day? How often would edit his own work?
4. How would you characterize Adams' writing - philosophical, practical, somewhere in between?
5. What people, events, experiences and authors influenced Adams' world view and his writing? How can these influences be seen in Adams' writing?