Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #428498 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the cleverest books I have ever read
Daniel Bell was unkown to me before I read this book, but has evidently built up a formidable reputation as a scholar of the highest international repute over many years. And with very good reason. How can you be an economic socialist, a political liberal and a cultural conservative at one and the same time? And why does capitalism tell us to work and save as producers and spend, spend, spend as consumers, also at one and the same time? Bell explains all these apparent contradictions with great clarity and style. This book is a joy to read and a real revelation. Certainly, it is one of the cleverest books I have ever read. Read it before you die!

A thoughtful and detailed analysis of modernity
The first thing you realize when reading the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism is that Daniel Bell is smarter than you. That's a good thing, because he interprets the classic philosophers (Marx, Aristotle, Weber) in the context of the 20th century, and reveals problems in society that I never quite realized. He's not quite as cogent as Aristotle, and I think he's only witty in person, and he uses a lot of big words that only confused me. Also, the essays seem rather disjointed, as they were not originally written as a single book. Regardless, I hail Bell for his insight.