"Absorbing . . . Offers a candid image of the Gilded Age." -- The Washington Post Book World
The Five of Hearts
An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends, 1880-1918
Description
The Five of Hearts, who first gathered in Washington in the Gilded Age, included Henry Adams, historian and scion of America's first political dynasty; his wife, Clover, gifted photographer and tragic victim of depression; John Hay, ambassador and secretary of state; his wife, Clara, a Midwestern heiress; and Clarence King, pioneering geologist, entrepreneur, and man of mystery. They knew every president from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and befriended Henry James, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, and a host of other illustrious figures on both sides of the Atlantic.
Reviews
"O'Toole is an exquisite writer. . . . This book's only fault is that it ends." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Fascinating. . . A new perception of America during a period of erupting violence, as the tensions between private and political moralities became more anguished." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A fine work about an interesting and important period of American history." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer
