“By examining the ‘sick’ William James, Sutton reveals an intriguing relation between pain and philosophical outlook in his work. Her analysis not only gives us new understanding of the ‘adorable genius’; it reminds us that philosophy itself often springs from lived experience, and enduring ideas can find their beginnings even in the most inhospitable human circumstances.”

Book Post

“Sutton is especially convincing when she discusses how James fought off the then popular, yet dangerously distorting, eugenic idea of degeneracy, with his more promising emphasis on regeneration; how he rethought religion as a source of biological energy; how he conceptualized the politics of psychopathology; and how he gave prominence to suffering as an expression of everyday moral heroism. Her view of James as an active political campaigner for mental health is both inspired and inspiring.”

The Lancet

“Sutton’s extensive reading of James’s notebooks, correspondence, and many unfamiliar essays and talks supports a significant reassessment of James's philosophy as an extended inquiry dominated by concerns and ideas of health and sickness, physical and mental. . . . Highly recommended.”

Choice

“Fabulous . . . Changed everything that I thought I knew about Williams James.”

New Books Network

“Sutton has not provided the world with yet another biography of philosopher and psychologist, William James. Instead, she has used her impressive research and analytical skills to provide important insights regarding the relationship between James’s many physical and psychological challenges and his intellectual output. Sutton argues that James’s experiences of infirmity have direct effects on his philosophical arguments, not as intellectual irritants but as substantive catalysts for leading to deep insights. This book shows just how thoroughly embodied James’s philosophy truly is, and as such, makes an important contribution to Jamesian scholarship.”

D. Micah Hester, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

“Sutton’s study offers a brilliant new reading of James. Her original approach not only brings new dimensions to issues around illness, pain, health, and medicine—though Sutton performs this with precision—but offers a rare scholarly analysis of his letters, reviews, notebooks, and diaries to provide a fuller picture of his personal life and his intellectual engagements. It shows the vital quality of James’s holistic integration of life and thought and the lived quality of his intellectual concerns around sickness and health. With this work, Sutton shows us that the margins of the archive are as important to Jamesian scholarship as his main works. It is a rich study that roots James’s thinking in the reality of his embodied life and shows that, with a sensitivity to his language, we can see the voice of the physician in his psychology, philosophy, and analysis of religion.”

Jeremy Carrette, University of Edinburgh

“This book changes our perception of James as a philosopher and intellectual. The best extended piece of scholarship on James in a long time.”

Sarin Marchetti, Sapienza University

"Sutton’s impressively lucid account shows that James’s self-care was, in the end, just about adequate for him to sustain an active, valuable life, even though he was never free for long from some form of ‘brain fag’, strain, ‘the black cloud’."

London Review of Books