In these vivid portraits of prominent twentieth-century intellectuals, Edward Shils couples the sensitivity of a biographer with the profound knowledge of a highly respected scholar. Ranging as widely across various disciplines as Shils himself did, the essays gathered here share a distaste for fadd...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Shils, Edward 1910-1995 (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Chicago [u.a.] Univ. of Chicago Press 1997
Subjects:	Geschichte 1900-2000 Intellectuals > United States > Biography Scholars > United States > Biography Intellektueller USA United States > Intellectual life > 20th century Biografie
Summary:	In these vivid portraits of prominent twentieth-century intellectuals, Edward Shils couples the sensitivity of a biographer with the profound knowledge of a highly respected scholar. Ranging as widely across various disciplines as Shils himself did, the essays gathered here share a distaste for faddists who "run with the intellectual mob" and a deep respect for intellectuals who maintain their integrity under great pressure. Highlights include an affectionate treatment of Leo Szilard, the physicist whose involvement with the development of the atomic bomb led him to work ceaselessly to address its social consequences; a discussion of the educational philosophy of Robert Maynard Hutchins, the University of Chicago's fifth and most controversial president; an appreciative account of the Polish emigre Leopold Labedz's well-informed and outspoken resistance to Communism; and an essay about the extraordinary Indian writer Nirad Chaudhuri.
Physical Description:	255 S.
ISBN:	0226753360 0226753379