Metaphysical Club [Paperback]

Menand's narrative path encompasses many side journeys, sometimes not appearing to advance towards the end goal, and it is not until the last seventh of the book that we get treated to an overall description of the philosophy of pragmatism. The doings of the Cambridge Metaphysical Club are briefly summarized almost halfway through the book, and the reader at that point learns that the club itself is not (although it is the title of the book) what made the major impact on society; rather, it is what some of the club's members did over the course of many subsequent decades that changed American society.

The great pleasure in reading The Metaphysical Club comes from following Menand on these many side journeys, thereby learning about a cornucopia of subjects, from the politics of slavery, abolition and the Civil War, to what pre-Civil War proper Boston Brahmin society was like, to the impact that Darwin's ideas on evolution had, to the Dartmouth College case and the founding of the modern private American university, to the Pullman car strike, to the initial battles to establish the principle of academic freedom, all underscored with a recurring discussion of race attitudes over the decades.

If this list appears to be a bit of a grab-bag of subjects, that impression prevails while reading the book: although it is all connected, you never quite know what subject Menand is going to explore next. The Metaphysical Club is not the final authority on any of these subjects; rather, it is a top-quality survey work. The subtitle describes the book better than the title: it truly is "a story of ideas in America". It's not "the" definitive story; Menand is exercising his right to explore brief portions of subjects of interest to him and germane to the storyline. But if you are willing to grant him this authorial license, and not protest the course he chooses, then you will be enthralled, entertained, and enlightened.

As a work of history (it won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for history), Menand also succeeds in providing a great deal of context about the state of the world his subjects were living in, so that we 21st century readers can "see how almost unimaginably strange they and their world were, too." While there are certain timeless truths that were generated by these thinkers, it is also instructive to see just how much they were a product of their times, which (of course) applies equally as well to us, today.

This book is neither easy nor light reading, and will take some time for even the most ardent student of history generally to wade through. It has to be considered a basic text for anyone interested in intellectual history. It is without doubt an important work--especially for anyone who today wishes to understand what the rest of the world has thought of or thinks is "American Culture". Obviously, this is more complex than simplification of American expansionism as imperialism disguised as altruism. Nor is it the Culture of the Cowboy, the rugged individualist.

However, at the same time that great Armies were further defining the "United States" on great battlefields, on American soil, so too were great Thinkers defining Americanism in precursors of "think tanks" where today the media would seek out people who "really" had something to say about our society. These were the precursors of the George Wills, the Pat Buchanans, the Sam Donaldsons of our era.

While the names will be unfamiliar to some, and the personalities and characters even odd [sic] (even the great William James, M.D., who never practiced medicine, took a significant role)...you will become engaged with the intelligentsia of the United States that predated the Wilsonians of the early 20th century, or the Communists, Socialists, and fellow travelers of the middle 20th century....the Neo-Cons of our time.

You'll wonder what has been lost, and how the era of Political Correctness could ever have devolved from this period of intense intellectual activity occurring at a time when even the causes of disease and infection were unknown, and theories of genetics were in their infancy. Yet "The Metaphysical Club" was a magnet for great thinking.

A great read for the reader who likes a real challenge!

But Menand uses this as a core around which he traces the ideas of these four great men and the others who inspired them and who they inspired. From Emerson in Concord through the early 20th century, this book examines some of the finest minds in one of America's most fertile periods. I would have liked to see more about James - arguably the most important thinker presented in the book - and a bit less density in some of the explanations of different philosophical systems. But the book is well-written, interesting, and Menand gives the right balance of ideas and events to help you understand this powerful period in the history of American thought.

I'd give it another half-star if I could; my only regret is the occasional dense passage that cuts away the rhythym of the narrative.