The epic wisdom contained in a lost library helps the author turn his life around.

A compelling hybrid combining memoir, a dramatic narrative about saving an endangered rare book collection, and the intellectual history of philosophy . . . Throughout the book, the author deftly intertwines the narrative threads in a story perfect for book lovers and soul searchers alike. Kaag's lively prose, acute self-examination, unfolding romance, and instructive history of philosophy as a discipline make for a surprisingly absorbing book. "Kirkus Reviews "(starred review)"John Kaag is the closest thing we have to William James: a breathtakingly good prose stylist; philosophically and psychologically courageous, inventive and inspiring; ruthlessly honest; unsparing about the difficulties of love, intimacy and experience; and above all, human, in the most valuable and moral sense of the word." Clancy Martin"John Kaag s "American Philosophy: A Love Story" is one of the most entertaining guides to philosophical inquiry to come along in decades. Stumbling on the library of a long-forgotten Harvard professor abandoned on the great man s country estate, John Kaag examines the trove and finds himself communing with the likes of William James, Josiah Royce, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ideas may be Kaag s first love, but they bring him a flesh-and-blood Beatrice in this open-hearted account of a young man s second chance at a sentimental education." Megan Marshall Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Margaret Fuller: A New American Life" Is life worth living? This is the age-old but forever timely question at the center of this remarkable and daring memoir. Part history of American philosophy, part personal narrative, "American Philosophy: A Love Story," takes us deeply into that 'epic love affair with wisdom' that is philosophy, but it does so through the wonderfully intimate lens of the author himself, a young and accomplished philosopher who has summoned the nerve to expose his flaws, his failures, his deepest doubts about it all, a rare act of creative courage and generosity that leads us to where the heart of true philosophy lies: to a deep and abiding sense of wonder. This is an absolutely stellar memoir." Andre Dubus III"

John Kaag is a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is the author of "Idealism, Pragmatism, and Feminism" (2011) and "Thinking Through the Imagination: Aesthetics in Human Cognition"(2014). His writing has appeared in" The" "New York Times," "Harper's Magazine," "The Christian Science Monitor," "The Chronicle of Higher Education," and many other publications.