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 &lsquo;The Law of Civilization and Decay,&rsquo; which has been issued also in French and German, and among his other works are included &lsquo;The New Empire&rsquo; (translated into German and Russian); &lsquo;Centralization and the Law&rsquo; (1906); &lsquo;The Theory of Social Revolutions&rsquo; (1913); &lsquo;Charles Francis Adams; an American Statesman,&rsquo; the last named work being a contribution to the proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for December 1911. His literary fame depends chiefly upon &lsquo;The Emancipation of Massachusetts&rsquo; (1887), a work intended as a philosophic exposition of a theory of social development.