Book Review: American Studies, by Louis Menand

This anti-intellectual bent has created two opposite trends. First, it has discouraged the mass of society from partaking in the pleasures of intellectual pursuits for fear of appearing snooty. The second and more salutary effect has been to infuse American intellectual thought with a healthy skepticism of itself and an even healthier sense of humor. Louis Menand's book, American Studies, benefits greatly from both the skepticism and the humor. Menand, in a series of essays on various thinkers and lines of thought, sheds light on what it means to be an American and to live in this great country.

Menand is an assiduous researcher. His essays are really expositions or histories that lay out all the facts about a person or idea. Although he is not shy about stating his own conclusion, his friendly tone leaves one with the feeling that it is no crime or insult to disagree. He partly creates this atmosphere by the adroit use of the parenthetical expression. (This is how he inserts his often humorous, but always insightful asides.)

Menand is a master of presenting facts in a revealing and useful light. He tells us what others thought about those facts, making them understandable in the context of the time they were written and what they mean to us now. In an essay on William James we are led down the well-lit corridors of Jamesian thought and taken to the private passageways and recesses of the man's mind where the philosophy known as Pragmatism had its misty beginnings to finally analyse the psychology of the man himself. It is all done in the backdrop of an on-going argument among scholars over whether William James ever spent time in an asylum. It is like reading a detective story, while at the same time absorbing some essence of philosophy.

The end of each essay is summed up with Menand's own thoughts. His conclusions are generally sound and helpful. It is only on occasion that I found myself scribbling in the margins with my own interpretation of the facts of a matter. A case in point would be the chapter on James B. Connant, a one-time president of Harvard University and proponent of the idea that admission to school should be based upon merit. Mr. Menand comes to the conclusion that diversity may be a superior qualification, saying that a class of students all admitted merely on the basis of their abilities and test scores would be an uninteresting one. What difference does that make? He never explains its import. (One of the few lapses in intellectual rigor in the entire book). It would seem manifestly obvious to me, in spite of the whining and fidgeting in academe, that rewarding excellence is the only way to promote excellence; diversity for diversity's sake serves no real purpose other than political. Given America's penchant for seeking out the "best and brightest", all racial, religious, gender and ethnic groups would find themselves represented in a system based on merit. Menand also pooh-poohs the idea that there is a certain body of thought that should be taught in college to give Americans a cultural unity that is tied intricately to Western Civilization. I was surprised at Menand's attitude considering the reliance his own work has on Western thought.

In any case, each essay is a pleasure to read in its own right and whether or not we agree with Mr. Menand, his command of the facts and his erudition is impressive. "American Studies" is highly recommended.

This book is available at Amazon.com