The Metaphysical Club, Louis Menand (2.0)
I have a hard time describing what this book is about. It purports to describe the main thinkers (ala the Metaphysical Club) in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s who drove some of the main ideas and philosophies in the US. I found the beginning interesting and the end did a relatively good job of wrapping it up, but I will attribute my frustration to the large middle bit. I got lost in the myriad of characters, varying timelines and lack of a linking narrative. The title is a bit misleading – the club did not exist for very long and there are no records of what was discussed. It’s not even mentioned until half-way through the book. Given all the characters discussed, I have forgotten who theoretically participated. In the end I found the discussion of the North’s issues entering the Civil War, the definition(s) of abolitionists and the initiation of academic freedom quite interesting, but so much else in this book did not stick for me.
