Robert Nisbet: Communitarian Traditionalist By Brad Lowell Stone ISI Books, 152 pages, $19.95 With the rise of "communitarian" thought on the American Left and of "civil society" theory on the Right, Robert Nisbet (1913-1996) only grows in stature as one of the...

Robert A. Nisbet, 82, a scholar, philosopher, author and academician who wrote extensively on the history of political thought, social development and contemporary events, died of prostate cancer Sept. 9 at his home in Washington. Dr. Nisbet was regarded by many as a...

In the following excerpt, Hoeveler argues that Nisbet combined belief in the power of social science with an attachment to traditional social institutions, which allowed him to formulate a powerful critique of centralized political and economic power.

In the following interview, Glasgow asks Nisbet his views on the growth of centralized bureaucratic and military power and the role each has played in fostering individual alienation.

In the following symposium, written by James S. Coleman, Morris Janowitz, Harry G. Johnson, Robert Lekachman, Martin Mayer, Daniel P. Moynihan, Harold Orlans, Thomas Sowell, and James Q. Wilson, the writers debate the merits of Nisbet's characterization of social scientists as discredited, inept meddlers in public policy.