A Fragment of a Sociological Autobiography: The History of My Pursuit of a Few Ideas

In this autobiography, written three years before his death in 1995, Edward Shils, unquestionably one of the giants of sociological theory in the period after World War II, reflects on the remarkable wide-range of his life’s work and activities, including founding and editing the journal Minerva, being a central figure in the Congress of Cultural Freedom, serving as a founding member of the editorial board of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and being a member of the International Council on the Future of the University. Beyond being autobiographical, it represents Shils’ final formulations on the character of society and its moral order It also contains fascinating discussion of many of the people Shils knew throughout his illustrious career including: Robert Park, Louis Wirth, Talcott Parsons, Karl Mannheim, Michael Polanyi, Audrey Richards, Karl Popper, Robert Merton, and many others. Further, it contains evaluations of the work of Simmel, Weber, Durkheim, Mannheim, and Parsons.