Louis Menand - The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America

Pros: Colorful history of philosophical ideas; adds narrative and people to the world of ideas
Cons: Easy to get lost in the streaming narrative of characters

The Civil War was a landmark event for a generation of intellectuals. Not only was it the event that sparked a series of changes in the socio-political landscape (the abolition of slavery, changes of regional politics, move from state-centered polities...

Pros: Beautifully balanced, colorful characters, and very, very thought provoking.
Cons: Too many characters maybe, but that also is an instance of pragmatism at work.

Once in a while friends adn acquaintances will ask me "well, what did you think of such-and-such (movie or book, usually)" Usually I pop out a straight relatively brief answer consisting of yes/no and just a touch of why. When I'm feeling perhaps a bit...

Pros: Recommended to readers interested in history as well as intellectual history post Civil War.
Cons: The last few chapters are far less interesting. Very different in style and argument

Menand manages to blend the lives of four very different people to tell a story of the development of a school of thought called pragmatism. Some of his writing is exceptional with digressions into the fascinating social history of the United States following the civil war. The way he manages to combine topics diverse as spiritualism, mathematics, document forgery and race relations into a single narrative is startling.
The book opened up a fascinating period of intellectual ferment that gave rise to ideas that still influence the way the world thinks and acts.