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The title of the book is simply William James, but the subtitle, His Marginalia, Personality and Contributions, gives us a much better picture of what is actually to be found in it. The author has concerned himself with certain peripheral problems of James's life and personality. The material is presented in an intimate and generally pleasing style.
First we have a glimpse into James's library to which Roback had access in 1923 when he was preparing a study of William James. We are shown some of James's peculiar interests and unorthodox attitudes as expressed in the markings and marginalia of his own books. We also see something of the character of James as expressed in the ordering of his books, in the books he read, in the pages which he left uncut and in the books which he left unread or for which he had particular aversions.
These marginalia, some letters and family memories are expanded into chapters dealing with James's intellectual attractions and repulsions—the emotional acceptance and rejection of men and intellectual currents—with James and Freud, with William James as spiritualist, with James's political and economic ideology, and with James as an internationalist.