"The aim of this book is to tell the story of a remarkable American family - as regards its literary and intellectual accomplishments, perhaps the most remarkable family the country has ever known - from its eighteenth-century Irish origins to the death of the novelist Henry James in 1916." - R.W.B. Lewis This fascinating account of a remarkable American family, the Jameses, traces the origins, development, and flowering of perhaps the most outstanding intellectual family American has ever produced. Its most famous members - William James, foremost psychologist and progressive thinker of his time; Henry James, great novelist and man of letters; and their brilliant sister, Alice James, political radical and lifelong invalid - were devoted siblings who suffered from an inevitable (and sometimes unconscious) sense of rivalry. The two younger brothers - Garth Wilkinson (Wilky), a war hero wounded in the Civil War, and Robertson (Bob), who had troubles as an alcoholic - felt the James family pressures and had tragic stories of their own. Even if the James family hadn't given us both William the philosopher and psychologist, and Henry the novelist, the story of this quirky, wealthy, socially prominent clan would still be riveting. Full of incidents that would become legendary, The Jameses brings to life 150 years of unforgettable American history.