'Tis Sixty Years Since

Charles Francis Adams Jr.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 100K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today."'Tis Sixty Years Since" by Charles Francis AdamsAuthor: Adams, Charles Francis, 1835-1915,Language: English, Class: B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

'Tis Sixty Years Since is a published speech by the American historian and politician Charles Francis Adams. Its title is borrowed from the opening of Scott's Waverley, evoking a retrospective span of sixty years. Writing from the perspective of a descendant of eyewitnesses, the author reviews major historical turning points and the evolution of political traditions since the founding of the United States. The language is dignified and the structure clear, combining historical narrative with the force of public oratory. Its value lies in showing how American intellectual elites at the end of the 19th century understood their nation's history and institutional continuity, making it useful as supplementary reading in American history and the history of political thought. It should be read as a historical speech, with attention to its period standpoint and rhetorical strategies, rather than as a neutral general history. It is especially relevant to readers studying the Adams family, early American political history, or the genre of oratory.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University readers studying American history and the history of political thought
Researchers interested in the genre of 19th-century American public oratory
Readers who wish to understand historical writing by the Adams family

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking light storytelling or a novelistic reading experience
Beginners lacking background knowledge of early American history

Reading tips

First understand the significance of the title's origin in Scott's Waverley, then proceed to the text
Build a background framework by tracing the timeline of historical events mentioned in the speech as you read
Distinguish the author's historical narrative from his personal political stance and annotate accordingly

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What does 'Sixty Years Since' in the title refer to?

The phrase is borrowed from the subtitle of Scott's Waverley and means looking back on history of about sixty years earlier. Adams uses it as the title to signal that the speech adopts a temporal perspective reviewing the historical changes since the founding of the United States.

What genre does this text belong to?

It is a text of public oratory, not a systematic general history or academic monograph. When reading, pay attention to its oratorical structure, its rhetoric, and the author's standpoint as a descendant of historical eyewitnesses.

Can I understand it without a foundation in American history?

You can read it, but depth of understanding will be limited. The speech involves many early American political figures and events; supplementing background on the period from the founding to the mid-19th century beforehand will make for smoother reading.

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About the author

Charles Francis Adams Jr. Author · American · 1835–1915

Charles Francis Adams Jr. (1835–1915) was an American writer and historian, born in Boston and a grandson of John Quincy Adams. After graduating from Harvard he served in the Civil War, rising to the rank of brigadier general; he later became a Massachusetts railroad commissioner and president of the Union Pacific Railroad (1884–1890). He served as president of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the American Historical Association, and his writings span railroad management and history. His representative works include Notes on Railroad Accidents, Some Phases of Sexual Morality and Church Discipline in Colonial New England, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, and Imperialism and The Tracks of Our Forefathers. Combining personal experience with documentary research, his rigorous, pragmatic style makes his studies of railroad safety and colonial social history especially valuable.