Understanding Weber

Acknowledgements
As in the Essential Weber, much of the scholarship and debate in this book
draws on the lively state of the international network of Weber studies.
Earlier versions of Chapters 2 and 6 have appeared, respectively, in Max
Webers ‘Grundbegriffe’, edited by Klaus Lichtblau, and Das Faszinosum Max
Weber, edited by Karl-Ludwig Ay and Knut Borchardt; my thanks to the editors
of these collections for inviting me to their conferences – in Bielefeld
and Munich – and for permission to use the chapters in this book. A number
of people have been especially helpful in reading and discussing parts of
the manuscript, suggesting approaches, offering information and guiding me
away from error. The failings that remain are, of course, of my own making.
My thanks are due to Robert Bellah, John Breuilly, Hinnerk Bruhns, Hans
Henrik Bruun, Brian Hall, Edith Hanke, Austin Harrington, Scott Lash, Raymond
Lee, Hartmut Lehmann, Mohammad Nafissi, Kari Palonen, Guenther
Roth, Yolanda Ruano, Keith Tribe and Stephen Turner. I must thank Gerhard
Boomgaarden and his team at Routledge for their understanding and nudging
me, and the book, towards successful completion.