The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of Novel by George SANTAYANA (1936-05-03)

Most Americans know of the founding of the Alden family in America, as told by Longfellow in the Courtship of Myles Standish. Santayana picks up the story more than a dozen generations later inBoston and Upper Thames River Valley of Connecticut. As a 16th-generation lineal descendant of JohnAlden and Priscilla Mullins, I can assure you that Santayana speaks with an insider's knowledge of theAlden clan of New England during the late 1800s and early 1900s. All Mayflower descendants shouldread this page-turner if they wish to better know themselves. A true American classic that will endurefor generations.

The Last Puritan is a novel written by a philosopher who was a Harvard philosophy professor.It came out late in his life and was his only novel.You would expect it to be a philosophical novel of ideas and up to a point it is.But more it's a historical portrait and sociological depiction of a particular group at a particular time.It deals with affluent New England WASPs in the late19th and early 20th Centuries.The portrait is not devoid of affection but it is that of an outsider and it is not devoid of hostility.Santayana sees the "set" and culture he depicts as fundamentally deficient and stunting.It is a "biography" of Oliver Alden, a New England Alden(remember Priscilla and Myles Standish).It starts with his father as a young man and ends with musings on him after he has died.Santayana was not a great novelist.The language doesn't soar , the plot doesn't amount to much and the characters are pre determined stick figures.Normally that would bother me! Here it was no problem because , Santayana is quite simply ,brilliant. There is considerable wit and some humor here.His observations are precise and generally on target.It might as well be acknowledged that in some sense this novel is an act of vengeance.I suspect Santayana had had quite enough of being talked down to by his inferiors.It is a celebration of the superiority of "Roman" culture and a juxtaposition of it against the "Nordic".I've never read anything quite like it.

One of the best selling novels in the U.S. and Europe that is restored based on the author’s intentions with notes, explanations and a fine introduction.

Gets better as it proceeds. For anyone interested it offers a real portrait of American and English upper class particularly in academia. Writing dated. For a fast reader, worth the cruise.

George Santyana was an important professor at Harvard around 1900 and an philosopher, said to have influenced such notables as Bertrand Russell, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Gertrude Stein and, W. E. B. Du Bois. This book was a bestselling novel when it was published in 1935. It gives a good description of upper class life in Boston around 1900 and has many excellent characterizations. It also has some very insightful philosophy. A long, slow read if you're used to modern novels, but well worth it, though the ending seems a little weak to me. I was most impressed with some of the philosophical insights. It's one of my favorite novels.

Much "warmer" than PERSONS AND PLACES, this one really lets you know who Santayana was, and how he saw these United States, so unique sometimes, and so disappointing at others

Otherwise in good condition. It might be helpful to give the overall dimensions of the book. But perhaps you do and I just didn't notice.

A great read . Print is nice . Thick book , well worth the time of reading