American Philosophy: A Love Story

Kaag (Thinking Through the Imagination), a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, embarks on a deeply personal search for the answer to the William James–inspired question, “Is life worth living?” Stocking a Subaru with a “case of mediocre pinot noir,” Kaag leaves a stale marriage and drives to the New Hampshire estate of a deceased scholar whose personal library is the equivalent of a philosopher’s candy store. Many of the books are first editions and their margins contain an entire subplot of America’s intellectual history. Kaag bonds deeply with the priceless books while battling his own angst, termites, rodents, and New England weather. Deciding to catalogue the most valuable volumes and place them in temporary storage, he summons help from a colleague. While they pour over Kant and Hegel, romance blooms. Kaag is a scholar at heart and a pack rat for intellectual trivia. Because of this, he risks leaving the reader both emotionally shortchanged and overeducated. There are wondrously frank moments in his narrative, as when he struggles to change a tire and, later, attempts to mow the estate field with a scythe. If only Kaag had sweated more and abstracted less, this would be a perfect book. (Oct.)