George Santayana was a novelist, poet, and philosopher. Santayana was born in Spain but was raised and educated in the United States and is considered an American man of letters. Santayana is credited for the popular phrase "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

Character and Opinion in the United States is a book that is based off a series of lectures on the different character and philosophy seen in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The book is also notable for Santayana's discussion on pragmatism.