Genuine Reality: A Life of William James (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780226758596)

Intellectual rebel, romantic pragmatist, aristocratic pluralist, William James was both a towering figure of the nineteenth century and a harbinger of the twentieth. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including 1,500 letters between James and his wife, acclaimed biographer Linda Simon creates an intimate portrait of this multifaceted and contradictory man. Exploring James's irrepressible family, his diverse friends, and the cultural and political forces to which he so energetically responded, Simon weaves the many threads of William James's life into a genuine, and vibrant, reality.

"William James . . . has never seemed so vulnerably human as in Linda Simon's biography. . . . [S]he vivifies James in such a way that his life and thought come freshly alive for the modern reader."--David S. Reynolds, New York Times Book Review

"Superb. . . . Genuine Reality is recommended reading for all soul-searchers."--George Gurley, Chicago Tribune

"Ms. Simon . . . has provided an ideal pathway for James's striding. . . . [Y]ou become engaged in his struggles as if they were your own."--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times

"[A]n excellent narrative biography at once sensitively told and lucidly written."--John Patrick Diggins, Wall Street Journal

Author: Linda Simon
ISBN-10: 0226758591
ISBN-13: 9780226758596
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 05/15/1999
Pages: 528
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 8.83h x 5.97w x 1.13d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 07/18/1999 pg. 28