William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert D. Richardson
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 23839
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 656
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.9
ISBN: 0618919899
Dewey Decimal Number: 109
EAN: 9780618919895
ASIN: 0618919899
Publication Date: September 14, 2007
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Product Description
Pivotal member of the Metaphysical Club, author of The Varieties of Religious Experience, older brother of extraordinary siblings Henry and Alice, the remarkable William James put an indelible stamp on psychology, philosophy, teaching, and religion -- on modernism itself. In this thought-provoking and moving biography, James emerges as an immensely complex and fascinating man. Through passionate scholarship, Robert D. Richardson illuminates James's life and hugely influential works: the Varieties, Principles of Psychology, Talks to Teachers, and Pragmatism. At last, in this definitive work William James is given his due as a man whose influence resonates in innumerable areas of modern life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Don't Read This In Public. February 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Richardson's biographies of Thoreau and Emerson are two of the best books I've encountered in my life of voracious reading and this is one is just as wondrous. I cannot read any of these books in public, because they all make me want to weep and clutch my chest and shout, "At last! Everything has been revealed!"
I wish I could explain why Richardson's biographies are different from anyone else's. It's not just an artful piling up of delightful and distressing facts. Instead it's like the doorbell rings and you have a new best friend: William James. There's something magical and occult about this. It's not like he went to the research library, it's like he drew mystic diagrams on the floor.
Richardson writes that one of James' gifts was "his uncanny ability to pick up redemptive ideas from his reading." And it is Richardson's gift too, to fill each page with life-giving ideas. These biographies are as purely inspirational as a strong Lao coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Reading them makes me prone to fits of euphoria.
Richardson points toward the sources of James' genius-- one of the most important of which was James' own depression and heartbreak. He writes, "James had a remarkable capacity to convert misery and unhappiness into intellectual and emotional openness and growth. It is almost as though trouble was for him a precondition for insight." How hopeful that is!
Richardson's compassion for his subject spills out, somehow, to the reader, and makes one feel that one's own nonsense and bleakness do not render one disqualified for a whole human life. What more can I ask for?
A biography as close to a page turner as possible December 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
More than an interesting read, not only into the life of one of the gotfathers of psychology and pragmatism, but of the period. Well written.
A very intellectual read December 9, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I would suggest reading this book first before reading some of William James other books. This book gives you an overview and thought process to give the reader a context for understanding all of his work. I am 35 years old and know of no one in my age that reads William James but I just wish this book came out years ago before I read all of his work.
For A Popular Audience, Too October 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I need not repeat the summaries set forth below by other reviewers, since these explain both Richardson's method -- to tell the life story through the work -- and the essentials of James' theories. What I will say is that, even if you have no background in philosophy or psychology, you should read this brilliant, passionate biography. James wrote for a popular as well as a professional audience; he was open and curious to all experience, and wished to be inclusive rather than exclusive in disseminating his ideas. Richardson is clear and succinct in explaining James theories -- often in the man's own, crisp, evocative language and clarifying analogies. Moreover, the concepts that James developed have in many cases become part of our popular vocabulary, including through organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, which Richardson reports took inspiration from James' Gifford lectures, published in the U.S. as "The Varieties of Religious Experience."
I had not read James for many years but, since reading this biography, have purchased a collection of his writings and am re-reading many of his works. You will come away from "In the Maelstrom of American Modernism" with a better understanding of both American values and ideals, and the history of U.S. higher education. Most importantly, however, you will come away with enormous admiration for the radiant personality that was William James, or as Richardson exclaims (using italics, not caps) at the end of this great work, for "the SPIRIT the man." When I finished reading, I not only wanted to read William James; I was sorry that I had not known him or had him as a teacher. That's how good this book is -- for every reader.
 Excellent for Scholars, Less Interest for Other Readers August 7, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book will resonate perfectly with scholars trained in philosophy and psychology. Biographer Richardson traces William James' evolving thought patterns with a thoroughness no writer could exceed. For the average reader, though, I suggest the book will have value mostly because of the interesting lives of William James and his novelist brother Henry.
Certainly I had been unaware of William's lifelong health problems. Too, the book provides fascinating tidbits about his courtship with his eventual wife Alice. Note his highly formal writing style in a love letter to her: "My duty is to win your hand if I can. . .What I beg of you now is that you should let me know categorically whether any absolute irrevocable obstacle already exist to that consummation."
Another highlight for me--William James' rejection of "copied religion." He has no use for the person whose "religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation and retained by habit." James noted that "the founders of every church owed their power originally to the fact of their direct personal communion with the divine."
I enjoyed the book as a life story well told.
The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!
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