The company of critics. Social criticism and political commitment

The company of Critics brings back into print, with a new preface, Michael Walser´s seminal survey of social critics and criticism of twentieth century. By examining the life and work of eleven leading social crirics -Julien Brenda, Randolph Bourne, Martin Buber, Antonio Gramsci, Ignazio Silone, George Orwell, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Herbert Marcuse, Michel Foucault and Breyten Breytenbach- Walser explains the role of the public intellectual in the context of "the triumphs and catastrophes of our time: the two world wars, the struggles of the working class, national liberation, feminism and totalitarian politics."