Existentialist Moment

Patrick Baert is Professor of Social Theory at the University of Cambridge

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1 Occupation, intellectual collaboration and the ResistanceChapter 2 The purge of collaborationist intellectualsChapter 3 Intellectual debates around the purge: responsibility, purity, patriotismChapter 4 The autumn of 1945Chapter 5 Sartre's committed literature in theory and practiceChapter 6 Rise and demise: a synthesisChapter 7 Explaining intellectuals: a proposalBiblographyIndex

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015"In a brilliant history of Sartre as philosopher and public figure, Patrick Baert creates a new theory of the public intellectual not through their personal intentions (the vocabulary of positioning) but in terms of the consequences of their thought (the vocabulary of efects). The result is a superb contribution both to our understanding of public intellectuals and to the sociology of knowledge."Bryan S. Turner, The City University of New York"Why Sartre emerged, from almost nowhere, to become one of the most compelling intellectuals of the 20th century has posed a seemingly intractable challenge for historians and social theorists alike. Patrick Baert cuts this Gordian knot, and develops a new sociological theory of intellectuals along the way. The Existentialist Moment is a deeply researched, conceptually compelling work."Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University"Baert's The Existentialist Moment gives us a unique opportunity to see precisely what was going on in the French intellectual world in 1945 when Sartre first exploded on the scene. The interactions among French thinkers, against the backdrop of earlier struggles between collaborationists and the Resistance, are vividly portrayed in Baert's fine writing. There is nothing like this book on the market today. It is a gem."Charles Guignon, University of South Florida