Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists

Stephen Bronner is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals New Politics and New Political Science. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including Moments of Decision (Routledge, 1992), which won APSA's Michael Harrington Book Award.

• Introduction: From the First Edition to the Second 2. Sketching the Lineage: The Critical Methond and the Idealist Tradition 3. Karl Korsch: Western Marxism and the Origins of Critical Theory 4. Philosophical Anticipations: A Commentary on the Reification Eassay of Georg Lukacs 5. Horkheimer's Road 7. Reclaiming the Fragments: On the Messianic Materialism of Walter Benjamin 8. Political Aesthetics: Reflections on the Expressionless Debate 9. Dialectics at a Standstill: A Methodolgoical Inquiry into the Philosophy of Theodore Adorno 10. Fromm in America 11. The Anthropological Break: Aesthetics and Politics in the Work of Herbert Marcuse 12. Jurgen Habermas and the Language of Politics 13. Critical Theory and Civil Society 14. Points of Departure:Sketches for a Critical Theory with Public Aims

"[Praise for first edition]"A brilliant book!"-Ulrich Beck.""[Praise for first edition 0-631-18738-3] A compelling account of the history of critical theory.A remarkable work.-Critical Sociology.""Very well written, readily accessible and largely free of jargon. There is no other single work on critical theory that offers such a unique range of thinkers and their ideas.-Mort Schoolman, SUNY Albany.""[Praise for first edition 0-631-18738-3] A brilliant book!-Ulrich Beck.""[Praise for first edition] A compelling account of the history of critical theory.A remarkable work.-Critical Sociology.""Very well written, readily accessible and largely free of jargon. There is no other single work on critical theory that offers such a unique range of thinkers and their ideas.-Mort Schoolman, SUNY Albany.""A fine and probing piece of theoretical scholarship." -- Contemporary Sociology"Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists does not disappoint . . . A compelling account of the history of critical theory and a useful guide for advanced graduate students and scholars. Bronner's understanding of the dialectical method is exemplary, and his explanation of it is excellent. A remarkable work." -- Critical Sociology"Has the foundation of critical theory been withdrawn with the collapse of communism? Stephen Eric Bronner argues the opposite: only now, liberated from marxian dogmatism, can a genuine critique of modern society begin. He develops his ideas in an immanent and emancipatory confrontation with critical theory and its proponents. A brilliant book! Don't miss it!" -- Ulrich Beck