Pragmatism has been called America's only major contribution to philosophy. But since its birth was announced a century ago in 1898 by William James, pragmatism has played a vital role in almost every area of American intellectual and cultural life, inspiring judges, educators, politicians, poets, and social prophets. Now the major texts of American pragmatism, from William James and John Dewey to Richard Rorty and Cornel West, have been brought together...

"James's essays seek to bring his readers into the processes and play of his own reflections. Ranging across the intellectual terrain from philosophy and psychology to religion and politics, James composed the most engaging and enduring articulation of that distinctly American contribution to world thought, pragmatism." "This collection presents, in its entirety, Pragmatism, the seminal set of lectures in which James argues for the "reasonableness...