TrackChapterLength
0101 - Chapter I14:28
0202 - Chapter II29:55
0303 - Chapter III32:43
0404 - Chapter IV19:27
0505 - Chapter V34:10
0606 - Chapter VI37:59
0707 - Chapter VII41:04
0808 - Chapter VIII36:29
0909 - Chapter IX41:00
1010 - Chapter X35:23
1111 - Chapter XI45:09
1212 - Chapter XII26:34
1313 - Chapter XIII36:03
1414 - Conclusion4:23

Notes
Running Time 7 hours 15 minutes
Read by: Anna Simon
Book Coordinator: Anna Simon
Meta Coordinator: Anna Simon
Proof Listener: Marian Martin

Artwork
Cover: United States Capitol at sunset, 2004, source unknown.
Inset: Cover of Democracy: An American Novel, 1880, Henry Holt & Co.
Inset:  Photo of Henry Adams c. 1885 by  William Notman.

Recordings
These recordings were made using the author’s original published work, which is in the public domain. The readings were recorded by members and volunteers of Librivox.org, which has generously made the recordings available to the public domain. The audio files have been edited and engineered using professional audio tools for maximum sonic quality. While Librivox condones the sale and distribution of these recordings, it is not associated with the management or operations of MP3 Audiobook Classics.





Democracy: An American Novel is one of the first novels about political power and how to get it, how to use it, and how to abuse it. When it was published anonymously in 1880 speculation had it that it was a joint effort of Clarence King, Henry Adams, John Hay and their spouses, a group who lived side by side in Washington a stone’s throw from the White House and sometimes referred to as “the Five of Hearts”. Only after Henry Adams’ passing in 1918 did the public learn that he was the author.

The book centers on Madeleine Lee, a wealthy New York widow attracted to power who moves to Washington and establishes a popular salon in the eye of the storm.   She is courted by two suitors, one an honorable gentleman, the other an ambitious and conniving politician who ends up in the president’s cabinet. The president, an amalgam of Johnson, Grant and Garfield, is incompetent and corrupt. Intrigues, machinations, and deceit abound.  Along the way we hear the prevailing views on political topics of the times – suffrage, communism, Darwinism, and the destiny of the republic. The book was the source for Democracy: An American Comedy, an opera which premiered in Washington in 2005.  The book is easily seen as an influence on Empire series of political novels by Gore Vidal and seems surprising contemporary in the present day.


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Item Info
EAN - DVD case 0701236969320
Media MP3 CD
Package DVD Case
Author Henry Adams (1838 - 1918)
Recording
Read by Nicholas Clifford
Length 7 hours and 17 minutes
Type of Reading Solo

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Democracy: An American Novel

  • Author: Henry Adams
  • Product Code: DB-1214
  • Availability: In Stock
  • $9.99


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