New York Intellect

""There is nothing new in New York: everybody is driving after money as usual,'' wrote Samuel F.B. Morse to James Fenimore Cooper. Yet Morseinventor, painter and arts organizerexemplified what Bender calls the city's ``literary culture,'' which democratically modeled itself on Paris. The author, a New York University professor, identifies two other distinct subcultures in the pageant of the city's intellectual history. The earliest, which harked back to Edinburgh, brought together men of letters, businessmen and professionals in organizations like the Friendly Club. After the Civil War, an ``academic culture'' modeled itself on the German research university. Bender's theme is the role of intellect in shaping a pluralistic society, and he carries his story through the postwar era when New York City, as an international capital of culture, went from being a mere importer of modernism to a crucible of change. (May 29)