Henry Adams serves Harvard as a history professor and editor of the prestigious North American Review from 1870 to 1877, taking a leave of absence during the 1872–1873 academic year to travel Europe with his new bride. Only the first year is discussed in the Education. He initially lectures to three classes per week but is free to address any topic he wishes within the years 800 to 1649. Henry immediately feels that he is in over his head. He tells a friend that he has returned to college not so much to teach as to learn. He claims that he is barely able to stay a day ahead of his students; he is not an expert in the field, although he does have specific pockets of expertise such as medieval architecture. Partly out of desperation, Henry experiments with various approaches to teaching. Editing also takes a good deal of his time, and he welcomes a vacation to Wyoming and Colorado when his duties end for the summer of 1871.
