Louis Menand: Difference between revisions

'''Louis Menand''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|uː|i|_|m|ə|ˈ|n|ɑː|n|d}};<ref>[http://bigthink.com/videos/big-think-interview-with-louis-menand "Big Think Interview With Louis Menand"], ''[[bigthink.com]]'', 26 April 2010.</ref> born January 21, 1952) is an American critic, essayist, and professor, best knownwho forwrote histhe Pulitzer-winning book ''[[The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America|The Metaphysical Club]]'' (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th- and early 20th -century America.<ref>Alexis Tonti, and Louis Menand, “Louis Menand Reaches Critical Mass.” ''Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art'' no. 48, 2011, pp. 72–85. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41951764 online]</ref>

Menand was born in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]], New York, and raised around [[Boston]], Massachusetts. His mother, Catherine (Shults) Menand, was a historian, who wrote a biography of [[Samuel Adams]]. His father, Louis Menand III, taught political science at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. His grandfather and great-grandfather owned the [[Louis Menand House]], located in [[Menands, New York|Menands]], New York, and listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1985.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> The village of Menands is named after his great-grandfather, a 19th-century horticulturalisthorticulturist.

A 1973 graduate of [[Pomona College]],<ref name="Starr Academy">{{cite news |title=Starr Named to Academy |url=http://magazine.pomona.edu/pomoniana/2020/06/24/starr-named-to-academy/ |access-date=29 August 2020 |work=Pomona College Magazine |publisher=Pomona College |date=24 June 2020}}</ref> Menand attended [[Harvard Law School]] for one year (1973–1974) before he left to earn [[M.A.Master of Arts]] (1975) and [[Ph.D.PhD]] (1980) degrees in English from [[Columbia University]].

He thereafter taught at [[Princeton University]] and held staff positions at ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' (contributing editor 1994–2001) and ''[[The New Republic]]'' (associate editor 1986–1987). He has contributed to ''[[The New Yorker]]'' since 1991 and remains a staff writer. In 1988 he was appointed a Distinguished Professor of English at the [[Graduate Center, CUNY|Graduate Center]] of the [[City University of New York]], and in 1990 he was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]. He left CUNY to accept a post in the English Department at [[Harvard University]] in 2003. He has also taught at Columbia, [[Queens College]], the [[University of Virginia School of Law]].<ref name=bio/>

He published his first book, ''Discovering Modernism: T. S. Eliot and His Context'', in 1987. His long-anticipated second book, ''[[The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America]]'' (2001), includes detailed biographical material on [[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]], [[William James]], [[Charles Sanders Peirce]], and [[John Dewey]], and documents their roles in the development of the philosophy of [[pragmatism]]. It received the 2002 [[Pulitzer Prize for History]], the 2002 [[Francis Parkman Prize]], and The Heartland Prize for Non-Fiction. In 2002 Menand published ''American Studies'', a collection of essays on prominent figures in American culture.

He is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English at Harvard. In 2018 he was appointed for a 5-year term to the Lee Simpkins Family professorship of Arts and Sciences.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Daniel D'Onofrio |title=Four scholars win Arts and Sciences Professorships |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/4-harvard-scholars-win-arts-and-sciences-professorships/ |publisher=The Harvard Gazette |access-date=18 February 2020 |date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> His principal field of academic interest is 19th and 20th century American cultural history. He teaches literary theory and postwar cultural history at both the graduate and undergraduate level. At Harvard he helped co-found a freshman course with content in literature and philosophy, Humanities 10: An Introductory Humanities Colloquium. He also served as co-chair on the Task Force on General Education at Harvard working on a new general education curriculum.<ref name=bio>[https://www.louismenand.com/ Louis Menand official website]</ref>

* {{cite book |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |title=Discovering Modernism : T. S. Eliot and hisHis contextContext |url=https://archive.org/details/discoveringmoder0000loui |url-access=registration |yeardate=1987 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}

* {{cite book |editor=Menand, Louis |editor-mask=1 |title=The futureFuture of academicAcademic freedomFreedom |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |yeardate=1996}}

* {{cite book |editor=Menand, Louis |editor-mask=1 |title=Pragmatism : aA readerReader |location=New York |publisher=Vintage |yeardate=1997}}

* {{cite book |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The Metaphysical Club : aA storyStory of ideasIdeas in America |url=https://archive.org/details/metaphysicalclub00mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |yeardate=2001 <!--isbn=0374199639 -->|isbn=9780374199630 }}

* {{cite book |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=American studiesStudies |url=https://archive.org/details/americanstudies0000mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |yeardate=2002 <!--isbn=0-374-10434-4-->|isbn=9780374104344 }}

* {{cite book |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The marketplaceMarketplace of ideasIdeas: Reform and Resistance in the American University |url=https://archive.org/details/marketplaceofide0000mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |yeardate=2010 <!--isbn=978-0-393-06275-5-->|isbn=9780393062755 }}

* {{Cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War|publisher=FararFarrar, StraussStraus & Giroux|yeardate=2021|isbn=978-0374722913|location=New York}}<ref group=lower-alpha>{{Cite book|last=Menand|first=Louis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrziDwAAQBAJ|title=The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War|date=2021-04-20|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-72291-3|language=en}}</ref><ref group=lower-alpha>{{Cite web|date=2021-04-13|title=The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand|url=https://theobjectivestandard.com/2021/04/the-free-world-art-and-thought-in-the-cold-war-by-louis-menand/|access-date=2021-04-15|website=The Objective Standard|language=en-US}}</ref>

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |date=November 14, 2011 |title=Getting real |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazinejournal=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=87 |issue=36 |pages=76–83 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/11/14/111114crat_atlarge_menand |access-date=2014-04-24}} Reviews {{cite book |title=George F. Kennan : an American life |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |publisher=Penguin}}

* — (July 2, 2012). [http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/07/02/120702crat_atlarge_menand "Silence, Exile, Punning: James Joyce's chance encounters"], pp.&nbsp;71–75.

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=March 4, 2013 |title=How the Deal went down : saving democracy in the Depression |department=The Critics. Books |magazinejournal=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=69–74 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/04/how-the-deal-went-down |access-date=2015-05-11}} Reviews {{cite book |title=Fear itself : the New Deal and the origins of our time |last=Katznelson |first=Ira |publisher=Liveright}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=July 8–15, 2013 |title=The color of law : voting rights and the Southern way of life |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=20 |pages=80–89 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/08/the-color-of-law <!--access-date=2016-12-19-->}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=September 30, 2013 |title=Nukes of hazard |department=The Critics. Books |magazinejournal=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=89 |issue=30 |pages=76–80 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/nukes-of-hazard |access-date=2015-03-03}} Reviews {{cite book |title=Command and Control |url=https://archive.org/details/commandcontrol00eric |url-access=registration |last=Schlosser |first=Eric |yeardate=2013 |publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594202278 }}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=October 21, 2013 |title=The Norman invasion : the crazy career of Norman Mailer |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=33 |pages=86–95 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/21/the-norman-invasion <!--access-date=2017-06-11-->}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=March 24, 2014 |title=The de Man case : does a critic's past explain his criticism? |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=90 |issue=5 |pages=87–93 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/24/the-de-man-case |access-date=2015-02-26}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=October 20, 2014 |title=Crooner in rights spat : are copyright laws too strict? |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=90 |issue=32 |pages=84–89 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/crooner-rights-spat |access-date=2014-12-23}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=March 23, 2015 |title=A friend of the Devil : inside a famous Cold War deception |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=84–90 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/a-friend-of-the-devil <!--access-date=2020-03-06-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "When the C.I.A. duped college students".</ref>

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=June 20, 2016 |title=What it is like to like : art and taste in the age of the Internet |department=The Critics. Books |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=18 |pages=73–76 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/20/art-and-taste-in-the-internet-age <!--access-date=2017-05-26-->}}

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=October 10, 2016 |title=He's back : Karl Marx, yesterday and today |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=32 |pages=90–97 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/karl-marx-yesterday-and-today <!--access-date=2018-02-16-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "Karl Marx, yesterday and today".</ref>

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=May 1, 2017 |title=Op de stez : Norman Podhoretz's classic success story |department=The Critics. Books |magazinejournal=The New Yorker |volume=93 |issue=11 |pages=63–69 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/the-book-that-scandalized-the-new-york-intellectuals <!--access-date=2017-09-01-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "The book that scandalized the New York intellectuals".</ref>

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=February 26, 2018 |title=Made in Vietnam : [[Edward Lansdale]] and the war over the war |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=96 |issue=15 |pages=63–69}} Reviews [[Max Boot]], ''The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam'', Liveright / W.W. Norton & Co., 2018).

* {{cite journal |authorlast=Menand, |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=June 1, 2020 |title=The Big Heinie : how Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig brought stardom to America's pastime |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=96 |issue=15 |pages=54–59 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/01/how-baseball-players-became-celebrities <!--|accessdate=2021-10-10-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "How baseball players became celebrities".</ref>

* [https://www.louismenand.com Louis Menand official website] : recent articles, biography, books

* [[Harvard University]] Department of English [https://web.archive.org/web/20180729233746/http://english.fas.harvard.edu/people/faculty/ faculty listing] for Menand

* {{C-SPAN|Louis Menand89599}}

* [https://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=880228 Menand's humorous exegesis] of ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'' on [[NPR]]'s ''[[All Things Considered]]'' (link to [[Windows Media]] and [[RealMedia]] audio)

* [http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?040628crbo_books1 Louis Menand on writing] – (in the ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'')

* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/12/23/021223crat_atlarge "Cat People: What Dr. Seuss really taught us"] -(in the ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'')

* [https://observer.com/2011/07/this-week-in-media-rogues/ This Week in Media Rogues] Article from The New York Observer about Louis Menand's review of "Wild Bill Donovan" in The New Yorker

* [http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-2010/letters-young-writer Letters to a Young Writer], Louis Menand to a letter, ''[[Narrative Magazine]],'' (Fall 2010).

* Sun, Kevin, [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/20/scrut-menand-fm/ "Who is Louis Menand?"], ''Harvard Crimson'', October 20, 2011.

* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122702647&ft=1&f=1032 Louis Menand on Reforming U.S. Universities] from NPR's All Things Considered (Air Date: 1/18/10)

* [https://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1123425 Menand interview] on ''The Metaphysical Club'' on ''All Things Considered'' (link to WM and RM audio)

* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309001537/http://www.theminnesotareview.org/ns52/menand.htm |date=March 9, 2005 |title="New New York Intellectual: An Interview with Louis Menand" }} in the ''Minnesota Review'', (June 1, 2001).

* {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Menand on Psychiatry |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/louis_menand/ |work=[[EconTalk]] |publisher=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |author-link=Russ Roberts |date=May 31, 2010}}

[[Category:Columbia UniversityGraduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]

[[Category:CityCUNY UniversityGraduate of New YorkCenter faculty]]