This collection brings together Daniel Bell's best work in essay form. It deals with a variety of topics: technology and culture, religion and personal identity, intellectuals and their societies, and the uses and abuses of doctrines of social class. The Winding Passage demonstrates the author's continuing concern with the salient issues of our times, while its inspiration draws upon an older, humanistic sociological tradition.

Daniel Bell (1919-2011) was professor emeritus of sociology at Harvard University and is best known for his work and contributions to post-industrialism. He had been editor of the publications The New Leader, Fortune, and The Public Interest. He is the author of The End of Ideology, The Winding Passage: Sociological Essays and Journeys, and The Social Sciences since the Second World War.

Foreword, Preface, Part I - Techne and Themis, Part II - Prophets of Utopia, Part III - The Intellectuals and "The New Class", Part IV - Directions of Social Change, Part V - Culture and Beliefs, Acknowledgements, Index