The History of Vitalism

I'm struck, you're mentioning the emotional load here, but I'm also noticing in your book what makes this period and vitalism so interesting is the cultural figures all around it. Walt Whitman said about Bergson that Bergson was to thought what Teddy Roosevelt was to action. One could add crossing racial and gender lines, some of the visionaries associated with the Harlem Renaissance. So there is a darker skinned embodiment of vitality that a lot of black people come to recognize and celebrate. And also a lot of white people are drawn to as well across racial lines.