Charisma

Mysterious and seductive, magical and elusive, charisma has long challenged efforts at rational social scientific explanation. Randall Collins has picked up the gauntlet. In a trademark act of elegant simplification he unlocks the two-step process through which certain individuals manage to capture, hold onto or lose this enigmatic power. Reinforced by perceptive case studies Charisma is certain to become a landmark statement in the field as it creatively straddles sociology, history, psychology, anthropology and religious studies.

Philip Smith, Yale University

In today's hashtag culture of watered-down ideas, charisma is little more than a positive reference to yet another humdrum, favorite child. Using archives on select celebrities, Collins breathes life into charisma as a product of energy and behavior sequences in social networks. The contribution is opportune, given widespread interest in network behavior. Favorite chapters describe four paths to charisma, T. E. Lawrence as a successful network broker, and Marilyn Monroe torn apart by networks. Collins has done it again. This is an engaging, consequential work.

Ronald S. Burt, University of Chicago

Why are some persons especially adept at attracting followers and influencing others? What do Jesus, Lawrence of Arabia, Marilyn Monroe, and Madame Mao Zedong have in common? Find out the answer while enjoying riveting stories about these individuals. It takes a truly great theorist to make social theory plain and simple. A book not be missed by anyone who delights in a good story or a good theory!

Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania, author of The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China

In Charisma, Randall Collins draws on the sociology of networks and the theory of interaction ritual chains to illuminate one of the least understood concepts in sociological theory. Employing his gift for communicating complex ideas accessibly, Collins examines charisma in a range of historical settings, as it was exercised by Jesus, Hitler, Joan of Arc, Marilyn Monroe and many others. Readers will never see these figures – nor will they ever think about charisma – in the same way again.

Paul Dimaggio, New York University