George Santayana

George Santayana was born in Madrid, Spain in 1863 but moved with his mother to the United States at age 6. Santayana attended Harvard University and later taught philosophy at Harvard during the Harvard philosophy department’s “Golden Age.” Some of his philosophical works published during this time include The Sense of Beauty and the five-volume The Life of Reason. In 1912, Santayana moved to Europe, where he worked as a writer. In his 40 years on the continent, Santayana published 19 books, including philosophical works, essays, poems, an autobiography and the bestselling novel The Last Puritan (1935). Though he remained a Spanish citizen all his life, Santayana is considered an American man of letters.