William James

William James has long been a fascinating and pivotal figure in American intellectual life, and his contribution to the discipline of psychology is almost immeasurable. This reissued biography ties James' thought and his life together in a strikingly personal and richly detailed way.

Daniel Bjork uses material including James' diaries, class notes, family correspondence, and love letters to his wife, Alice. He goes beyond a chronology of key events in James' life and focuses on a detailed account of James' intellectual and creative development.

In doing so, the author takes highly original positions. For example, he downplays the importance of James' "spiritual crisis" in the late 1800s, an event much emphasized by other biographers. He also reveals James' emotional dependence on his wife, whose influence has been largely ignored. Bjork shows that Alice's support and encouragement were vital to James' "intellectual destiny."

This lively and vivid book will be of great interest to James scholars, graduate students, historians, and general readers.

Illustrations

Preface

1. Repent of the Past
2. A Hungry Eye
3. Detached and Slightly Disenchanted
4. Who Made God?
5. The Original Seat of the Garden of Eden
6. The Antinomian Root
7. Tragical Marriage
8. Creating the Realm of Consciousness
9. A Wandering Piece of Property
10. Charting the Realm of Consciousness
11. The Professional Coil
12. Solidly Established
13. Conquering the Realm of Consciousness
14. God Help Thee, Old Man
15. Give Me a World Already Created

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliographical Essay

Index