Tonight on Person Place Thing : Host Randy Cohen speaks with Louis Menand, an American critic, essayist, and professor, best known for his Pulitzer-winning
A riveting, original book about the creation of the modern American mind
The Metaphysical Club was an informal group that met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1872, to talk about ideas. Its members included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., founder of modern jurisprudence; William James, the father of modern American psychology; and Charles Sanders Peirce, logician, scientist, and the founder of semiotics. The Club was probably in existence for about nine months. No records were kept. The one thing we know that came out of it was an idea – an idea about ideas. This book is the story of that idea. Holmes, James, and Peirce all believed that ideas are not things out there waiting to be discovered but are tools people invent – like knives and forks and microchips – to make their way in the world. They thought that ideas are produced not by individuals, but by groups of individuals – that ideas are social. They do not develop according to some inner logic of their own but are entirel
Author: Louis Menand
In his follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Metaphysical Club, Louis Menand offers a new intellectual and cultural history of the postwar years.
The Free World “is a sweeping survey that looks at how and why perceptions about the US, both domestically and internationally, changed so completely during these years,” said a review on goodreads.com.
“This is a smart, fascinating and serious book of intellectual history. Menand is a sprightly and clear writer,” it added.
David Oshinsky said in a review for The New York Times: “The evenhanded approach of Menand is like a breath of fresh air. The Free World sparkles. Fully original, beautifully written, it covers the interchange of arts and ideas between the United States and Europe in the decades following World War II.”
Louis Menand Examines the Churn of American Culture After World War II 3quarksdaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 3quarksdaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.