A Hundred Years of Phenomenology: Perspectives on a Philosophical Tradition

Editor Robin Small assembles a lean but muscular compendium in A Hundred Years of Phenomenology. The book includes just 13 essays, but Small brings together an international array of scholars who join the discussion from a variety of perspectives. The contributors perform close readings of the central texts of phenomenology, and they also bring to bear recent developments in Continental thought. In addition, there are essays on phenomenology's most enriching and critical thinkers, including Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Derrida.

Phenomenology was born at the beginning of the 20th century, and the dawn of a new century marks a fitting time to reflect on the tradition's wealth. Though it is not a book for beginners, A Hundred Years of Phenomenology is a good survey of the field's contemporary thought. Phenomenology has historically been more popular in Europe than in the United States, and many of its leading advocates are overlooked in Anglo-American philosophical circles. This book is an important step toward broadening the appeal and influence of the tradition. --Eric de Place