Dead White Men and Other Important People

by Angus Bancroft, Ralph Fevre

How do you know what you feel? Why are some bad habits so hard to shake? Why do people do what they are told? Are we players or puppets? What is 'society'? These are some of the questions that new undergraduate student Mila begins to ask as she sets out on her journey to find out what sociology is and why it matters.

This is a novel of ideas, a textbook in which we follow Mila and her friends as they grapple with sociological ideas and problems. It offers refreshingly clear explanations of the most important aspects of sociology and exposes students to social theory and how it relates to our everyday experiences. Through Mila's thoughts and actions, and the events in her social and family life, students are encouraged to engage critically and personally with sociological ideas, and in the process learn how to interpret, use and reshape them.

Bringing the subject to life with humour, storytelling and doodles, this revised second edition of Dead White Men and Other Important People remains the ideal introduction to sociological thinking for students at all levels.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2010

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm]

Three stars for the effort, two for the content. This books follows the example set by Norwegian (NOT Danish, as this books embarrassingly claims) author Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, a novelized history of western philosophy. It's been close to 25 years since I read Gaarder, so perhaps I remember it as a better book than it actually is, but that book was engrossing, and the novel form worked despite the sometimes thick ideas that needed to be explained.

This book is a decent introduction to sociological ideas, but the fictional part is severely lacking. The sociological ideas are presented in different scenes, with a very loose plot and very little in terms of characterisation. Moreover, not only do fiction works need to sound like fiction, but look like it too. Now the pages are crammed with text, which makes it a tiring read. What the book does well is to present sociological ideas in the form of dialogue. The counter-arguments get nicely covered as well, and the overall image of sociology is one of conversation--as it should be.

[Lauren Basson]

I love the premise of this book. It was well executed. It would have been even better with fully formed characters. The explanation of Marx was a bit odd and not entirely accurate. Still, it's a remarkable achievement.

[Betty]

its an amazing book

[Paige]

I appreciate the intention of this book but if you are wanting to learn social sciences i suggest reading the original texts...