From the 1940s to the 1990s, Irving Howe was a dominant, if controversial, figure in American intellectual life. Author of the prize-winning WORLD OF OUR FATHERS, Howe was founder and editor of the democratic socialist magazine DISSENT. Through a clear, eloquent, and forcefully argued study of Howe's politics, writings, and thought, Edward Alexander constructs a sympathetic, yet critical intellectual biography of this complex individual.