With this book, Jacques Barzun pays what he describes as an "intellectual debt" to William James—psychologist, philosopher, and, for Barzun, guide and mentor. Commenting on James's life, thought, and legacy, Barzun leaves us with a wise and civilized distillation of the great thinker's work.

Jacques Barzun is the author of more than thirty books, including From Dawn to Decadence: Five Hundred Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present, which was nominated for a National Book Award, and Berlioz and His Century, the latter available from the University of Chicago Press.