Wally on Menand

About Wally Welton "Wally" Chang graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005. He earned a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Government and received the prestigious Colby Political Science Prize for his overall academic performance. He is currently serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Wally first encountered Menand's work during the winter of his junior year, completing The Metaphysical Club in a period of three weeks. This included a week when the book was read during downtime, away from building a Habitat for Humanity house in Bolivia. The intellectually stimulating fare served as interesting conversation with other members on the trip. More Wally: themiguy.blogspot.com

Favorite Menand articles/chapters

Metaphysical Club, Chapter Ten: Burlington
The chapter describes the impact that the Burlington schools of thought and Dartmouth College had on the shaping of the American psyche.

American Studies: William James and the Case of the Epileptic Patient
Probably the greatest example of Menand's historical writing which bordered on archaeological work. Menand drew on James' private letters and deconstructed the deconstructionist claim that James had been an epileptic. This type of analysis is a major theme in Menand's works: showing that the criticism of history sometimes leads to the creation of "facts" that had previously not existed.

American Studies: The Mind of Al Gore
An inside peek into the enigmatic Al Gore. Menand is able to show the robotic conception of Al Gore by the media only scratches the surface of a deeply complicated man. But it is his complicated deep contemplation that leads to an outwardly wooden and uncomplicated appearance.

Cat People: What Dr. Seuss really taught us.
The New Yorker, 12-16-2002
A hilarious and not too serious take on the serious subjects approached by Dr. Seuss' children's classic The Cat in th Hat.


Menandisms and favorite Menand lines

On William James and Civil War service: "Uncertainty-- "I am to take a leap in the dark"-- turned out to be all the certainty he needed. The assurance that he had done his duty was a wholly adequate consolation." (The Metaphysical Club, 37)

On the Civil War: "The war alone did not make America modern, but the war marks the birth of modern America." (ix)

On Ralph Waldo Emerson: "He was a preacher whose message was: Don't listen to preachers."(19)

Menand Moments

Having attended and graduated from Dartmouth, Menand's passage in The Metaphysical Club describing the Dartmouth College case struck me. This was primarily because Menand's words reflected the moment of which he was writing about and conveyed the emotional resonance of the episode. Many people know that Daniel Webster, Dartmouth's most favorite son, argued the case in front of the Supreme Court. The victory extended the establishment clause to all contracts in the country. Menand wrote:

"Webster's peroration in the case became legendary, though it is impossible to know precisely what he said since no one recorded his words at the time. "It is... a small College," he is supposed to have told the court at the end of the oral argument. "And yet, there are those that love it"-- and he went on to describe, in full sonority, his filial attachment to Dartmouth, winding up with an allusion to the assassination of Julius Caesar. Some people in the audience (quite sparse, actually: mostly lawyers waiting for their own cases to come up) are reported to have swooned. The chief justice, John Marshall wept." (242)

At first I couldn't even pronounce his name. And now I'm a Menand fan. The Metaphysical Club came highly recommended to me by professors and friends. I came to truly enjoy the book and I looked for more Menand texts to read. Working out at the gym one day I saw Michael Vatis, previously the head of FBI's NIPC. He had returned to Dartmouth to help Kerry's campaign as an advisor on terrorism matters. I didn't know if Michael had recognized me or not, and I couldn't have been sure. He had offered me a job after I talked to him after a class lecture one day and I ended up as a two-year intern at Dartmouth's ISTS. I worked up the courage to talk to him again and he did in fact recognize me and we struck up a conversation. In my right hand I clapsed a copy of American Studies and he asked me if I liked it. Michael relayed that he had previously had Menand as a professor at Princeton. He was clearly a fan; Menand had taught the most entertaining and lively class of Michael's undergraduate career. We momentarily shared common interests, the gym, and Menand, mind and body. It was cool.