The essays in this volume form part of the revival of interest in Durkheim and bring to light his intellectual inquiry into political theory, comparative ethnology, social reconstruction and questions of civil society, as well as his articulation of an updated individualism in conversation with Marx, Hegel, Spencer and others. The anthology includes work by authors such as Robert N. Bellah, Edward Tiryakian, Henri Berr and Alfred Loisy.

Ivan Strenski is Holstein Family and Community Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of nine books including Durkheim and the Jews of France (University of Chicago Press, 1997) and The New Durkheim: Essays on Philosophy, Religious Identity and the Politics of Knowledge (Rutgers University Press, 2006).

Contents: Introduction; Part I History and Philosophy: Durkheim and history, Robert N. Bellah; The definition of sociology and the sociology of definition: Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method and high school philosophy in France, John I. Brooks III; Durkheim's pragmatism lectures: a contextual interpretation, Neil Gross; Durkheim's friendship with the philosopher Octave Hamelin: together with translations of 2 items by Durkheim, D. Némedi and W.S.F. Pickering; Charles Renouvier and Emile Durkheim: Les Règles de la Méthode Sociologique, S.G. Stedman Jones; Durkheim, Hamelin and the French Hegel, Ivan Strenski. Part II Division of Labour and Suicide: Revisiting sociology's first classic: The Division of Labor in Society and its actuality, Edward A. Tiryakian; Durkheim et les femmes, ou le Suicide inachevé, Philippe Besnard; The true nature of Anomie, Philippe Besnard; Durkheim on occupational corporations: an exegesis and interpretation, M.J. Hawkins. Part III Sociology, Culture and Education: Durkheim, realism and Rousseau, Robert Alun Jones; Emile Durkheim's inaugural lecture at Bordeaux, Neville Layne; French ethnology and the Durkheimian breakthrough, Victor Karady; The uses of studying primitives: a note on the Durkheimians, 1890-1940, W. Paul Vogt; The cultural and educational influence of Durkheim, 1900-1945, W.D. Halls; Rousseau and Durkheim: the relation between the public and the private, Mark S. Cladis. Part IV Religion, the Sacred and Elementary Forms: Bergson and Durkheim as sons and assimilators: the early years, Louis M. Greenberg; On understanding a sociological classic, Robert Alun Jones; Robertson Smith, Durkheim and sacrifice: an historical context for The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Robert Alun Jones; Durkheim's individual in society: a sacred marriage?, Mark S. Cladis. Part V Politics: Durkheim's political sociology, Anthony Giddens; La vocation originelle d'Ã0/00mile Durkheim, Bernard Lacroix. Part VI From History of Science