Louis Menand

Menand was born in 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, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.{{NRISref|2009a}} The village of Menands is named after his great-grandfather, a 19th-century horticulturist.

A 1973 graduate of Pomona College,{{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}} Menand attended Harvard Law School for one year (1973–1974) before he left to earn Master of Arts (1975) and 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 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.

He published his first book, Discovering Modernism: T. S. Eliot and His Context, in 1987. His 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.{{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}} 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.[https://www.louismenand.com/ Louis Menand official website]

In consultation with the National Endowment for the Humanities, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 2015.{{cite news |author1=Jill Radsken |title=Menand wins National Humanities Medal |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/09/menand-wins-national-humanities-medal/ |access-date=18 February 2020 |publisher=The Harvard Gazette |date=September 15, 2016}}

In 2021, Menand's book The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War was published. Mark Grief's review in The Atlantic described the book as a "monumental new study of cold war culture," covering "art, literature, music, and thought from 1945 to 1965."{{Cite news |last=Greif |first=Mark |date=2021-05-05 |title=The Opportunists |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/06/louis-menand-the-free-world-cold-war/618713/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}

{{Incomplete list|date=December 2014}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

• {{cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |title= Discovering Modernism: T. S. Eliot and His Context |date=1987 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195040694}}
• {{cite book |editor=Menand, Louis |editor-mask=1 |title=The Future of Academic Freedom |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1996 |isbn=0226520048}}
• {{cite book |editor=Menand, Louis |editor-mask=1 |title=Pragmatism: A Reader |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |date=1997|isbn=0679775447}}
• {{cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America |url=https://archive.org/details/metaphysicalclub00mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2001 |isbn=0374199639}}
• {{cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=American Studies |url=https://archive.org/details/americanstudies0000mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2002 |isbn=0374104344}}
• {{cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University |url=https://archive.org/details/marketplaceofide0000mena |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=2010 |isbn=9780393062755}}
• {{Cite book |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |title=The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2021|isbn=9780374722913|location=New York}}{{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=978037472291-3|language=en}}{{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}}

• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |date=November 14, 2011 |title=Getting real |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |journal=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}}
• {{cite journal |author=Menand, Louis |author-mask=1 |date=July 2, 2012 |title=Silence, exile, punning : James Joyce's chance encounters |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=88 |issue=19 |pages=70–75 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/02/silence-exile-punning }}
• {{cite journal |last=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 |journal=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 |last=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 |journal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=20 |pages=80–89 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/08/the-color-of-law }}
• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=September 30, 2013 |title=Nukes of hazard |department=The Critics. Books |journal=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 |date=2013 |publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594202278}}
• {{cite journal |last=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 |journal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=33 |pages=86–95 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/21/the-norman-invasion }}
• {{cite journal |last=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 |last=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 |last=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 |journal=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=84–90 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/a-friend-of-the-devil }}Online version is titled "When the C.I.A. duped college students".
• {{cite journal |last=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 |journal=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 }}
• {{cite journal |last=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 |journal=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=32 |pages=90–97 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/karl-marx-yesterday-and-today }}Online version is titled "Karl Marx, yesterday and today".
• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=May 1, 2017 |title=Op de stez : Norman Podhoretz's classic success story |department=The Critics. Books |journal=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 }}Online version is titled "The book that scandalized the New York intellectuals".
• {{cite journal |last=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 |author=Menand, Louis |author-mask=1 |date=September 30, 2019 |title=Merit badges : is higher education an engine of social injustice? |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume= |issue= |pages=75–80 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/is-meritocracy-making-everyone-miserable }}Reviews Tough, Paul, The years that matter most. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt., Markovitz, Daniel, The meritocracy trap. Penguin.
• {{cite journal |last=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 }}Online version is titled "How baseball players became celebrities".
• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=March 22, 2021 |title=Change your life : the lessons of the New Left |department=American Chronicles |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=5 |pages=46–53 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/22/the-making-of-the-new-left }}Online version is titled "The making of the New Left".
• {{cite journal |author=Menand, Louis |author-mask=1 |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Drawing lines : our undemocratic democracy |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=98 |issue=25 |pages=65–68 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/american-democracy-was-never-designed-to-be-democratic-eric-holder-our-unfinished-march-nick-seabrook-one-person-one-vote-jacob-grumbach-laboratories-against-democracy }}Online version is titled "American democracy was never designed to be democratic".
• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=September 19, 2022 |title=Disgraced: What Happened to Rudy Giuliani? |department=American Chronicles |journal=The New Yorker |volume=98 |issue=30 |pages=71-75 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/26/was-rudy-giuliani-always-so-awful }}Online version is titled "Was Rudy Giuliani Always So Awful?".
• {{cite journal |author=Menand, Louis |author-mask=1 |date=February 6, 2023 |title=Making the news : the press, the state, and the state of the press |department=The Critics. A Critic at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=98 |issue=48 |pages=59–65 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/06/when-americans-lost-faith-in-the-news }}Online version is titled "When Americans lost faith in the news".
• {{cite journal |author=Menand, Louis |author-mask=1 |date=November 20, 2023 |title=The war on Chaplin |department= |journal=The New Yorker |volume=99 |issue=38 |pages=60–64 |url= }}Review of Scott Eyman, Charlie Chaplin vs. America, Simon & Schuster, 2023.
• {{cite journal |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-mask=1 |date=July 22, 2024 |title=What Happened to the Yuppie? |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=100 |pages=58-62 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/29/triumph-of-the-yuppies-tom-mcgrath-book-review }}Online version is titled "When Yuppies Ruled".

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;Bibliography notes

{{reflist|40em|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

• [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|89599}}
• [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 New Yorker)
• [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/12/23/021223crat_atlarge "Cat People: What Dr. Seuss really taught us"] -(in the 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}}

{{PulitzerPrize HistoryAuthors 2001–2025}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:Pulitzer Prize for History winners

Category:Harvard University faculty

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Category:Princeton University faculty

Category:Historians of the United States

Category:The New Yorker staff writers

Category:Pomona College alumni

Category:CUNY Graduate Center faculty

Category:National Humanities Medal recipients

Category:Historians from California

Category:Queens College, City University of New York faculty