Achievement meritorious enough to generate discussion covers considerable territory. This book concentrates on one part of it: that inhabited by scholars and politicians. In their world self-esteem flowing from achievement is founded on expertise related to ideas, their generation, and their implementation.

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is Faculty Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary. He has written over 225 articles and chapters and written or edited 41 books, including recent titles The Idea of Leisure: First Principles; Serious Leisure: A Perspective for Our Time; Personal Decisions in the Public Square: Beyond Problem Solving into a Positive Sociology; Leisure and Consumption: Common Ground/Separate Worlds; and Social Entrepreneurship for Dummies. Stebbins was elected Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences in 1996, the Royal Society of Canada in 1999, and the World Leisure Academy in 2010.