To reflect on Karl Mannheim is to address fundamental issues of political enlightenment

Mannheim's driving determination "was to learn as a sociologist by close observation the secret (even if it is infernal) of these new times." Mannheim's aim was "to carry liberal values forward." His problem remains irresistible to reflective people at the end of the twentieth century. Mannheim attempted to link social thinking to political emancipation despite overwhelming evidence against the connection. Karl Mannheim and the Crisis of Liberalism is a sympathetic biography of Mannheim's paradoxical and paradigmatica' project.

The book covers a wide range of European and American thought, including Mannheim's dealings with Georg Lukacs and Oscar Jszi in Budapest; with Alfred Weber, Leopold von Wiese, Franz Neumann, Paul Tillich, Adolph Loewe, and his students in Weimar Germany; with Louis Wirth, Edward Shils, and other major figures in American sociology; and with social analysts and religious thinkers in England. The analysis is informed by dilemmas of history and theory, science and rhetoric, freedom and technical control—the themes of liberalism.

Kettler and Meja carefully depict each stage of Mannheim's life as a sociologist and explore his influence on leading social thinkers. Karl Mannheim and the Crisis of Liberalism combines significant biographical information with insightful sociological theory. It will be a vital resource for historians, sociologists, and political theorists.