Durkheim Is Dead!: Sherlock Holmes Is Introduced to Social Theory

In this sociology textbook/mystery novel, students can join Sherlock Holmes and Watson as they discover a new area ripe for acrimony and intrigue: social theory. In 1910, the most prominent social theorists in the world gather in London for a conference on the new science of sociology. Things rapidly fall apart, though, as a fight breaks out, a jewel is stolen, and famous sociologist Emile Durkheim disappears. As Sherlock Holmes and Watson investigate, it appears that social theory may not only explain actions-in this case, it may be the cause of them. So Holmes and Watson investigate social theory itself, learning directly from those creating it: W.E.B. Du Bois, Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Lenin, Beatrice Webb, Georg Simmel, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. The theories, lives, and passions of each sociologist are revealed as Holmes and Watson, learn first-hand just how influential social theory can be.

Arthur Asa Berger, retired professor from San Francisco State University, is the author of over 40 books, including the mystery novel/textbook Postmortem for a Postmodernist, and editor of The Postmodern Presence: Readings on Postmodernism in American Culture and Society.