• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • About Current
    • Masthead
  • Podcasts
  • Blogs
    • The Way of Improvement Leads Home
    • The Arena
  • Support
  • Way of Improvement
  • About John
  • Vita
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Media Requests

New Review of The Way of Improvement Leads Home

John Fea   |  March 19, 2009 Leave a Comment

Rixey Ruffin in The Journal of American History writes:

The strength of this book is that it succeeds in what it sets out to do; in so intimately linking ideas and behavior, Fea has put a memorable human face on the abstractions of the age.

At another point in the review, Ruffin writes:

The more he embraced reason, the more he wanted to flee from it. Fithian was a walking war zone, a young man who in every way embodied some of the great intellectual struggles of his age.
Fithian as a “walking war zone.” I will have to think about that one.

Ruffin also critiques my work:

And while there are certain challenges in writing a biography of a man who died so young, surely not all of the details provided in this book are essential ones. Fea has an insightful thesis but sometimes comes too close to burying it beneath the minutiae of his subject’s daily life.

Fair enough. There are a lot details about Fithian’s life in this book. My only response is that it is in the minutiae of everyday life that the Enlightenment was lived. My thesis must be embodied in everyday life or else the “rural Enlightenment” thesis does not work. Moreover, it is precisely the biographical details that draw in the average reader. This explains, I think, why The Way of Improvement Leads Home has had some limited cross-over success with general audiences.
Ruffin concludes: But overall, this is an engaging study of a life fully lived even its brevity, a life through which the ideals and fears of the Enlightenment can be witnessed anew.

Filed Under: Way of Improvement

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Patron Access

The Way of Improvement Leads Home

A historian takes a close look at Advanced Placement African American Studies

February 1, 2023 By John Fea

Poll: Republicans want to move on from Trump

February 1, 2023 By John Fea

Danielle Allen wants America to “pull together”

February 1, 2023 By John Fea

Commonplace Book #235

February 1, 2023 By John Fea

More from The Way of Improvement →

The Arena Blog

Welcome to the Arena

February 1, 2023 By Nadya Williams Leave a Comment

“The Arena” is coming to Current

January 31, 2023 By John Fea Leave a Comment

More from The Arena →

Subscribe via Email



Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Footer

Contact Forms

General Inquiries
Pitch Us

Search

Subscribe via Email



Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Subscribe via Email


Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide