Franco Ferrarotti is professor of sociology and chariman of the PhD program in social science at the University of Rome, Italy.

• Preface Part I: The Interrupted Conversation Between Two Voids The Paradox of Oral History Talking Among Human Beings Reality as Spectacle The Autonomy of the Medium The Contribution of Harold Adams Innis Knowledge and Information The Proletarinization of the Soul The Human Voice in Athens Part II: The Crisis of the Event: The Decline and Transfiguration of Charisma The "White Tribe" in a Minority Position End of History or Crisis of Elite Historicism? The Limitations of European Culture in a Culturally Pluralistic World Charisma as the Extraordinary Personalized Response to the "Challenge of the Exception" Sects as Dispensers of Certainty in an Uncertain World The "Children of Moon," or the Businessman as Prophet From Absolute Obedience to Salvation The TV Pope The Mass Media and the Annulment of Determinants of Time and Place Part III: New Historicism and Life Histories The Crisis of Historicism History and Sociology Life-Histories and Historical Horizon Preliminary Critical Remarks Inference and Reproducibility The Impossible Synthesis The Personal Equation The Interaction Context and Temporality Annotated Bibliography Index

Franco Ferrarotti is professor of sociology and chariman of the PhD program in social science at the University of Rome, Italy.

• Preface Part I: The Interrupted Conversation Between Two Voids The Paradox of Oral History Talking Among Human Beings Reality as Spectacle The Autonomy of the Medium The Contribution of Harold Adams Innis Knowledge and Information The Proletarinization of the Soul The Human Voice in Athens Part II: The Crisis of the Event: The Decline and Transfiguration of Charisma The "White Tribe" in a Minority Position End of History or Crisis of Elite Historicism? The Limitations of European Culture in a Culturally Pluralistic World Charisma as the Extraordinary Personalized Response to the "Challenge of the Exception" Sects as Dispensers of Certainty in an Uncertain World The "Children of Moon," or the Businessman as Prophet From Absolute Obedience to Salvation The TV Pope The Mass Media and the Annulment of Determinants of Time and Place Part III: New Historicism and Life Histories The Crisis of Historicism History and Sociology Life-Histories and Historical Horizon Preliminary Critical Remarks Inference and Reproducibility The Impossible Synthesis The Personal Equation The Interaction Context and Temporality Annotated Bibliography Index

Franco Ferrarotti is professor of sociology and chariman of the PhD program in social science at the University of Rome, Italy.

• Preface Part I: The Interrupted Conversation Between Two Voids The Paradox of Oral History Talking Among Human Beings Reality as Spectacle The Autonomy of the Medium The Contribution of Harold Adams Innis Knowledge and Information The Proletarinization of the Soul The Human Voice in Athens Part II: The Crisis of the Event: The Decline and Transfiguration of Charisma The "White Tribe" in a Minority Position End of History or Crisis of Elite Historicism? The Limitations of European Culture in a Culturally Pluralistic World Charisma as the Extraordinary Personalized Response to the "Challenge of the Exception" Sects as Dispensers of Certainty in an Uncertain World The "Children of Moon," or the Businessman as Prophet From Absolute Obedience to Salvation The TV Pope The Mass Media and the Annulment of Determinants of Time and Place Part III: New Historicism and Life Histories The Crisis of Historicism History and Sociology Life-Histories and Historical Horizon Preliminary Critical Remarks Inference and Reproducibility The Impossible Synthesis The Personal Equation The Interaction Context and Temporality Annotated Bibliography Index