Decades later, the work done by the founding members of the Frankfurt School continues to unsettle conventional wisdom about culture, society, and politics. "Over the last fifty years or more, Martin Jay's indefatigable efforts have helped to transform the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School from an esoteric affair known only to a few cognoscenti into a major point of reference in the most important debates on contemporary society. This latest publication shows just how relevant Critical Theory remains as we confront the darkening of the Zeitgeist. As human-made catastrophes multiply, we surely have need more than ever of the astonishing foresight, born in dark times, of thinkers such Horkheimer, Adorno, Benjamin and Marcuse, whose work Jay illuminates here. The concluding chapter, which discusses the alt-right's unhinged attack on the Frankfurt School, vividly captures the frightening irrationality of the times in which we live." Joel Whitebook, Columbia University, author of Freud: An Intellectual Biography "Brilliant rereadings of known texts. An absolute pleasure." Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Yale University "With this collection of brilliant and insightful essays Martin Jay has returned to the topic that defined his early career: Critical Theory. Possessing deep historical knowledge and endowed with great sensitivity for theoretical nuances, Jay traces the unfolding of what is commonly called the Frankfurt School. This book is a precious gift to America in these troubled times." Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus, Cornell "Fresh, learned, and historically precise, these essays remind us how fortunate English readers are to have Martin Jay as their entryway into the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt Institute." Susan Buck-Morss, Professor of Political Philosophy and Social Theory, Cornell University MARTIN JAY is Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught Modern European Intellectual History and Critical Theory for forty-five years. He has published many books, among which are The Dialectical Imagination and Reason after Its Eclipse.

ISBN: 9781788736015