Readers of this book are in for a treat. The authors, distinguished scholars themselves, open windows into the work of figures whose scholarship, overlooked or long neglected, offers surprisingly fresh insight into society today as well as in the past. Some of the scholars profiled here were once famous (Luther Bernard, Pitirim Sorokin, Marianne Weber). Others, like Annie Marion Maclean and Radhakamal Mukerjee, were no less accomplished. All deserve our attention today. Pressures to specialize, and the tides of fashion, can inhibit the wide reading and historical memory modeled by this book. A few hours in the company of the authors presented here will be a welcome reminder of the benefits of such an effort. -- David N. Smith, University of Kansas
