This collection is part of the "Anthem Companions to Sociology" series, which reflects on important sociological figures, broadly defined, and features essays by international scholars, including both sociologists and scholars from other disciplines. This approach yields an unusual breadth of perspectives. It also offers some challenges to American readers, who may find the literary styles and issues less than familiar. This text on Durkheim from editors Fitzi (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, France) and Marcucci (The New School) explores 10 specific aspects of Durkheim’s sociology. Each essay deals with that chapter author’s particular interest in exhaustive, sometimes exhausting, detail. Readers may find this approach less basic and comprehensive than they might expect from a companion volume; the editors clearly assume an audience familiar with Durkheim’s entire body of work and prepared to engage with more focused issues. Thus, this work is most appropriate for advanced readers, particularly those specializing in the history and philosophy of social sciences —E. L. Maher, emerita, Indiana University South Bend.

The Anthem Companions to Sociology offers wide ranging and masterly overviews of the works of major sociologists. The volumes in the series provide authoritative and critical appraisals of key figures in modern social thought. These books, written and edited by leading figures, are essential additional reading on the history of sociology. -Gerard Delanty, Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, Brighton

This ambitious series provides an intellectually thoughtful introduction to the featured social theorists and offers a comprehensive assessment of their legacy. Each edited collection synthesizes the many dimensions of the respective theorist’s contributions and sympathetically ponders the various nuances in and the broader societal context for their body of work. The series will be appreciated by seasoned scholars and students alike. -Michele Dillon, Professor of Sociology and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, University of New Hampshire

The orchestration and emergence of the Anthem Companions to Sociology represent a formidable and invaluable achievement. Each companion explores the scope, ingenuity, and conceptual subtleties of the works of a theorist indispensable to the sociological project. The editors and contributors for each volume are the very best in their fields, and they guide us towards the richest, most creative seams in the writings of their thinker. The results, strikingly consistent from one volume to the next, brush away the years, reanimate what might have been lost, and bring numerous rays of illumination to the most pressing challenges of the present. -Rob Stones, Professor of Sociology, Western Sydney University, Australia

The Anthem Companions, those that have appeared already and those that are to come, will give every sociologist a handy and authoritative guide to all the giants of their discipline. -Stephen Mennell, Professor Emeritus, University College Dublin