Book Recommendations: Early 20th Century American Intellecual History

[kdavid]

Could anyone recommend some books/historians who have written on the topics of American intellectual trends and/or college/university life between ~1900 - 1940?

 

Thanks!

Edited January 8, 2013 by kdavid

[dworkable]

Probably you have already read Leo Strauss-but he reacts to WWI and has a large impact on the intellectual history of political science. In the same vein, I would recommend Eric Voegelin and Hannah Arendt, depending on what you are looking for. They are largely primary contributors.

[stillalivetui]

Probably you have already read Leo Strauss-but he reacts to WWI and has a large impact on the intellectual history of political science. In the same vein, I would recommend Eric Voegelin and Hannah Arendt, depending on what you are looking for. They are largely primary contributors.

 

Regardless of the field, everyone should read Hannah Arendt.

[kdavid]

To provide some context, I'm studying a group of foreign students who studied abroad in America in the early 20th century.

 

I'm trying to get a feel for the intellectual climate at the time, what the major trends were, etc., so that I can better assess what the students may have been exposed to and how it may have affected their thought.

 

Regardless of the field, everyone should read Hannah Arendt.

 

I see quite a lot with her name on it. Where would you recommend I begin?

 

Thanks again!

[kdavid]

A follow-up:

 

I've read up briefly on the authors listed above. Most of them would have been active toward the end of the period I'm researching.

 

I'm searching more along the lines of contemporaries of John Dewey.

 

If it helps to narrow the search a bit, I'm interested in the main trends between 1911-1925ish.

[ohgoodness]

A tad late period-wise but Albert Jay Nock's "Our Enemy the State" has always been one of my favorite books summarizing american intellectual development from certainroots. It is highly linked to your time-period but also political (hard to know what you mean by intellectual)

Edited January 8, 2013 by cherub

[kdavid]

Thank you very much for that suggestion.

 

Essentially what I'd like to know is:

 

If I were a student studying at an American university sometime between 1900-1940, what types of ideas would I have been exposed to? What were university campuses like at that time? etc.

[Riotbeard]

Louis Menand has written some interesting book about the development of academia and education with a good bit of focus in that era.  Menand is very readible, and thought provoking.  I think you may also find Hofstadter's The Age of Reform to be a nice, very traditional overview of intellectual/political currents of the first half of the twentieth century.  Every historian should probably read Hofstadter once, since he is an incredible stylist.

[czesc]

I took a course in American Intellectual History in undergrad that had a heavy emphasis on this period. We did a lot of primary source reading, but a lot of this has been anthologized; I'd recommend "The American Intellectual Tradition, 1865-" (Capper and Hollinger) which also has introductory notes for many of the writers featured. It might help you get a good feel for trends in thought during this time.

[Wicked_Problem]

I would suggest the following memoir by Charles Hartshorne, the famous process philosopher/theologian: The Darkness and the Light: A Philosopher Reflects Upon His Fortunate Career and Those Who Made It Possible (1990) ISBN: 0-7914-0337-8 or 0-7914-0338-6 (pbk.) Haverford College (1915-17) WW I (1917-19) Harvard & European Post-Docs (1919-23) Teaching: University of Chicago (1928-1955) Emory University (1955-1962) U of Texas, Austin (1962 - 1978 full time) (1979 - 1997 part time) Last published work at 100. Died at 103 years of age. At least this would provide a single person's perspective during the period you are concerned with.