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Overview
When the editors of Contemporary Sociology selected the ten most influential books of the past twenty-five years and published new essays on their importance, the feature sparked enthusiasm, debate, and controversy. This volume responds to and extends that discussion by expanding the list to seventeen books, incorporating a piece on the best-sellers of sociology, and adding four essays on the "most influential" controversy itself. Although the list centers on sociology, only half of the books were written by sociologists.The charge to the reviewers was not to make a case for a book, but rather to analyze the character and extent of its influence. Because these works are already recognized as milestones in their fields, and because the reviewers are prominent figures who themselves often played central roles in the dramas surrounding these titles, the reviews are as noteworthy for their critical edge as for their celebration of the books' contributions. The result is a thought-provoking volume that engages many of the key intellectual issues of our time.
Synopsis
When the editors of Contemporary Sociology selected the ten most influential books of the past twenty-five years and published new essays on their importance, the feature sparked enthusiasm, debate, and controversy. This volume responds to and extends that discussion by expanding the list to seventeen books, incorporating a piece on the best-sellers of sociology, and adding four essays on the "most influential" controversy itself. Although the list centers on sociology, only half of the books were written by sociologists.
The charge to the reviewers was not to make a case for a book, but rather to analyze the character and extent of its influence. Because these works are already recognized as milestones in their fields, and because the reviewers are prominent figures who themselves often played central roles in the dramas surrounding these titles, the reviews are as noteworthy for their critical edge as for their celebration of the books' contributions. The result is a thought-provoking volume that engages many of the key intellectual issues of our time.
Library Journal
This fascinating volume, compiled by the editors of Contemporary Sociology (CS), identifies and discusses 17 of the "most influential" books in sociology written during the last 25 years. (Ten of these essays appeared in the May 1996 issue of CS.) While most of these titles were reviewed by CS when they first appeared (there are snippets from the original reviews), the power of this book lies in reconsiderations by eminent sociologists of important titles in light of a quarter of a century's worth of political, social, and economic change. Thus we have social theorist Steven Seidman discussing the influence (although not on sociologists) of Edward Said's Orientalism and civil rights chronicler Aldon Morris on the importance of William J. Wilson's The Declining Significance of Race. The early excitement of the women's movement is reflected in an essay describing the remarkable success of Our Bodies, Ourselves, which started as an alternative press publication costing 75 . Required Reading has obvious scholarly value as well as considerable popular appeal; strongly recommended for both academic and public libraries.--Ellen Gilbert, Rutgers Univ. Lib., New Brunswick, NJ