The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Adams, Brooks

ADAMS, Brooks, American writer on sociological themes: b. Quincy, Mass., 2 June 1848. He is a son of Charles Francis Adams (1st), was graduated from Harvard University in 1870 and followed the law for the succeeding year. He is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Institute of Arts and Letters, etc. In 1900 he published ‘The Law of Civilization and Decay,’ which has been issued also in French and German, and among his other works are included ‘The New Empire’ (translated into German and Russian); ‘Centralization and the Law’ (1906); ‘The Theory of Social Revolutions’ (1913); ‘Charles Francis Adams; an American Statesman,’ the last named work being a contribution to the proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for December 1911. His literary fame depends chiefly upon ‘The Emancipation of Massachusetts’ (1887), a work intended as a philosophic exposition of a theory of social development.