Manhood at Harvard: William James and Others [Paperback]

Kim Townsend (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

On the battlefields of the Civil War a new masculine ideal was forged. Its defining terms--the glorification of male elites, activities, and games, and the marginalization of women and others--were most clearly set forth at Harvard University. Kim Townsend introduces us to the college men who were the most influential supporters and vocal critics of the new ideal of manhood: William James, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles William Eliot, W. E. B. Du Bois, George Santayana, and others. Manhood at Harvard penetrates a distinctive culture, the legacy of which has reverberated powerfully in education, politics, and society throughout the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The philosopher William James sought to achieve a tough-minded practice of philosophical thinking, an intellectual attitude he described largely in the language of masculinity. For several decades, James championed this mode of thought to students at Harvard, who ranged from W. E. B. DuBois to Theodore Roosevelt. Professor Kim Townsend's book Manhood at Harvard is an analysis of the language and ideas that James and other faculty at Harvard promoted throughout the late 19th century. Townsend argues the language had great influence through its mark on the leading lights of America, influencing notions of individualism in the literary works of Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, and the imperial foreign policy championed by roughriding Teddy Roosevelt. An interesting account of Harvard's physical and intellectual environment in these decades, the book is also a provocative reading of gender and sexuality in American intellectual history. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Towsend (Sherwood Anderson, LJ 9/15/87) builds his well-written and thoroughly researched work around a clever idea: the exploration of the development of manliness among the faculty and students at Harvard from the post-Civil War era to the early 20th century. He offers an intriguing approach to Harvard's history and the men who made it an educational cornerstone of the nation. Focusing first on William James, epitome of the Harvard professor and distinguished American educator, he considers such notable models as president Charles William Eliot as well as W.E.B. DuBois, George Santayana, and Theodore Roosevelt. William Reid Jr. (class of 1901), father of football at Harvard, is seen as one of the primary players in the growth of "manly sports." Just as the book opens following the Civil War, it ends with the decline in the emphasis on manhood in 1909-10, when the psychological theories of Freud gained acceptance and "being a man was not enough." This scholarly book is recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674548043
• ISBN-13: 978-0674548046
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,228,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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