Tbfrank's Reviews > The Metaphysical Club : A Story of Ideas in America

I found this book to be a fascinating and enlightening study of how certain ideas came to be prevalent in American society. The author examines the lives of four individuals whose ideas represent many of the underlying tenets of American thought: Oliver Wendall Holmes, William James, Charles S. Pierce and John Dewey. Beginning with the watershed event of the Civil War, the author shows how America changed in its institutions, its economics, its social makup, its approach to addressing and solving the problems of a modern society. He compares these individuals and their thoughts and actions in the post-war era of the late 19th century with those of the post-war period of the 20th, the brink of another wave of change. Some of the ideas these men held are at odds with facts we may know today; but the principles, the manner of thinking about problems which they fostered are recognizable today. This is a scholarly and a highly readable work which I strongly recommend.