Defining the Age: Daniel Bell, His Time and Ours

In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and Julian Zelizer bring together a group of distinguished contributors to consider how well Bell's ideas captured their historical moment and continue to provide profound insights into today's world. Wide-ranging essays demonstrate how Bell's writing has informed thinking about subjects such as the history of socialism, the roots of the radical right, the emerging postindustrial society, and the role of the university. The book also examines Bell's intellectual trajectory and distinctive political stance. Calling himself "a socialist in economics, a liberal in politics, and a conservative in culture," he resisted being pigeon-holed, especially as a neoconservative.

Defining the Age features essays from historians David A. Bell, Michael Kazin, and Margaret O'Mara; sociologists Steven Brint and Jenny Andersson; media scholar Fred Turner; and political theorists Jan-Werner Mler and Stefan Eich. While differing in their judgments, they agree on one premise: Bell's ideas deserve the kind of nuanced and serious attention that they finally receive in this book.