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pp. 170, “The conservative sociologist Robert Nisbet (1913-96) wrote extensively on community and social breakdown, articulating a principled perspective of the decline of civic-minded solidarity in light of the growth of the bureaucratic state. His key books include Tradition and Revolt, Twilight of Authority, and History of the Idea of Progress. In this intellectual biography, Stone (sociology and American studies, Oglethorpe Univ.) offers a systematic overview of Nisbet’s contributions to sociology and the conservative movement. The author suggests that Nisbet’s works ‘are an excellent place to start when persons are serious about the truths of our social world and when they seek guidance as to how they might better it.’ He compares Nisbet to those who have written in the communitarian vein, finding him far superior to such contemporary theorists as Robert Bellah and William Julius Wilson. On the whole, this is an uncritical biography, though Stone takes exception to a couple of relatively minor aspects of Nisbet’s analytic framework. Recommended for libraries with special collections on conservative though and/or sociological theory.”  //  “This is the only book-length intellectual biography of sociologist Robert Nisbet (1913-1996)”