Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas

This is a fine book that sticks with its stated ambition of introducing critical theory. It is meant for Anglo-American philosophers, who have had little interest in and less enthusiasm for, those loosely grouped under the label. Held lays out the details of each critical theorist's work, and avoids the sweeping, provocative slogans that mar other introductory texts. His book's exegesis has more breadth and depth than, say, Schroyer's The Critique of Domination; his work's assessment more balance and support than, say, Slater's Origin and Significance of the Frankfurt School. Held does not match Jay's flair for spotting a unifying theme amid a welter of data. These two authors differ in purpose, however. Jay's outstanding The Dialectical Imagination locates CT broadly within social and political theory, while Held's book situates it more narrowly within the philosophical tradition.