Intellectual Life in America: A History

This historical study of intellectuals asks, for every period, who they were, how important they were, and how they saw themselves in relation to other Americans. Lewis Perry considers intellectuals in their varied historical roles as learned gentlemen, as clergymen and public figures, as professionals, as freelance critics, and as a professoriate.

Looking at the changing reputation of the intellect itself, Perry examines many forms of anti-intellectualism, showing that some of these were encouraged by intellectuals as surely as by their antagonists. This work is interpretative, critical, and highly provocative, and it provides what is all too often missing in the study of intellectuals—a sense of historical orientation.

Customer Reviews:

Not bad at all (albeit a bit dated)

By Suzanne Laga - March 8, 2013

This book has ambition. I mean, it tries to life a history of public intellectualism in America. The book has problems: many of the figures Perry covers are already well-covered (I mean, can we have an intellectual history of American that doesn't drone on John Dewey?); he pays scant attention to fringe but important figures in various social movements; there's very little stuff of how "non-American" ideas shaped those in America. Then, there are the good bits: the distinction between the insitutionalized mind and the independent mind seems about right to me, the section on anti-intellectualism is the best treatment of the topic since Hofstadter, the attention that Perry pays to freelancing seems well-deserved to me as well. So, while not a very even book, it's definitely work checking out, especially if you are doing any advanced work in American intellectual history. Some of it might seem familar but Perry's own slant makes even deeply familiar stuff look interesting and... read more