Reviews for Four makers of the American mind, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Melville

The average rating for Four makers of the American mind, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Melville based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-11-14 00:00:00 Scott Bruggeworth CC seems to have set himself an easy task here: for the most part a short page on 100 books selected just for being 'key', a conveniently undefined notion. Some are super-famous, and the vast majority well-known by hearsay at least to lit-heads; but there must be thousands of books that meet these criteria. So 100 books chosen essentially at whim, and a few hundred words on each. To make this more than a collection of blurbs, those words had better offer something good. For me, they did; they made me want to try the 70 or so (I haven't counted, that's a guess) that I haven't already read or already intended to read. I've just ordered 'The portrait of a lady', which if I can make it through its 700 pages or whatever it is, will feature in my 2017 reviews. Not before the autumn I imagine. But that's neither here nor there stars-wise. I give it 4 of those for feeding my attachment to the idea that good books are worth bothering with, for offering fresh-to-me takes on familiar books like 'Gatsby' and for making writers who've always bored me - Hemingway springs to mind - seem worth another go.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-04-01 00:00:00 Santiago Diaz This is a very touching book. I thought I would be bored with it but it was interesting to the end.