When Ideas Mattered: A Nathan Glazer Reader

Sociologist Nathan Glazer's remarkably long and productive career as a New York intellectual spans seven decades from the Great Depression era to the late twentieth century. A voracious intellect with a perpetual sense of curiosity, he defies easy labelling. When Ideas Mattered is a critical volume, but it also contains autobiographical essays Glazer has written over the years to explain the evolution of his own thought.

The book is a sensitive and nuanced examination of a towering intellect...