Few have failed to recognize the return of the religious as a factor in social theory. None, so far, has more cogently explained the contributions of French social thought to the challenge of the Sacred in our day than Riley.A" * Charles Lemert, author of Durkheim's Ghosts Alexander Riley's radically revisionist account throws down the gauntlet to the conventional wisdom of intellectual history. Riley offers a cultural sociology of intellectuals that explores the sacred narratives that motivate their life and work...original and compelling.A" * Jeffrey C. Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University