Novalis Books

"Religion and Alienation" is somewhat helpful to read alongside the actual texts of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim themselves, but you're basically getting Baum's interpretation of these texts, with sporadic documentation at best. Time and time again, I found myself frustratingly asking what is the source for Baum's interpretation, but finding nothing but a bald assertion. This is basically "Marx, Weber, and Durkheim" Lite, for those who are too lazy to work through the actual texts themselves but want to pretend that they are actually familiar with the sociological analysis of these authors. Kind of like Garry Wills presuming to inform us what Paul and Jesus "meant." You're relying entirely on Baum's reading of these works. His text is POORLY documented. If he had handed this text in to me as a paper, I would have written back to him, "WHERE'S YOUR EVIDENCE?!" Difficult to take seriously.