Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Henry Adams (1838-1918) was a journalist, historian, and the descendant of two U.S. presidents.  His studies of democracy, which culminated in his magesterial nine-volume History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (1889-91), left him profoundly disillusioned with politics.  His autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams (1918), is considered an American classic.