The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America

Hardly a club in the conventional sense, the organization referred to in the title of this superb literary hybrid-part history, part biography, part philosophy- consisted of four members and probably existed for less than nine months. Yet its impact upon American intellectual life remains incalculable. Louis Menand masterfully weaves pivotal late 19th-and early 20th-century events, colorful biographical anecdotes, and abstract ideas into a narrative whole that both enthralls and enlightens.Th…