House Of Wits. An Intimate Portrait Of The James Family

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Publisher Place: New York
Publisher Year: 2008
Edition: First Edition

Description: 693 pages. Book is in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: An American odyssey that reveals the fascinating complexities of one of historys most brilliant, eccentric, and daring families The James family, one of Americas most memorable dynasties, gave the world three famous a novelist of genius (Henry), an influential philosopher (William), and an invalid (Alice) who became a feminist icon, despite her sheltered life and struggles with mental illness. Although much has been written on them, many truths about the Jameses have long been camouflaged. The conflicts that defined one of Americans greatest families-- homosexuality, depression, alcoholism, female oppression--can only now be thoroughly investigated and discussed with candor and understanding.Paul Fishers grand family saga, House of Wits , rediscovers a family traumatized by the restrictive standards of their times but reaching out for new ideas and ways to live. He follows the five James offspring ("hotel children," Henry called them) and their parents through their privileged travels across the Atlantic; interludes in Newport and Cambridge; the younger boys engagement in the Civil War; and William and Henrys later adventures in London, Paris, and Italy. He captures the splendor of their era and all the members of the clan--beginning with their mercurial father, who nurtured, inspired, and damaged them, setting the stage for lives of colorful passions, intense rivalries, and extraordinary achievements. House of Wits is a revealing cultural history that revises and completes our understanding of its remarkable protagonists and the changing world where they came of age.

ISBN: 9780805074901