The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America

Summary

Menand follows the lives and thought of Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey to trace the birth of American pragmatism. He shows how the trauma of the Civil War pushed these thinkers toward new ideas about truth, belief, and democracy. The book matters because it connects philosophy to the everyday workings of law, education, and modern American culture.