Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures

Damion Searls’ translation, Charisma and Disenchantment: The Vocation Lectures (NYRB), brings new breath to two of distinguished German sociologist Max Weber’s lectures delivered in the wake of World War I. In the first, Weber defines the modern world as “disenchanted” as a result of rapid technological and social change and in the second, he postulates that charisma is a crucial component to political leadership. Almost 100 years later, these theories still relate to the world of today.