This fascinating book makes an important contribution to the history of the social sciences. It tells the largely hidden story of how social psychology became an international social science, vividly documenting the micro-politics of a virtually forgotten committee, the Committee on Transnational Social Psychology, whose work took place against the back-drop of some of the most momentous events of the twentieth century. Overcoming intellectual, institutional and political obstacles, including the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the military coups in Chile or Argentine, the committee struggled to bring social psychology to global recognition, not as part of a programme of intellectual imperialism, but motivated by a mixture of intellectual philanthropy and self-interest. Few authors could tell this unique story. Serge Moscovici is undoubtedly the best-placed insider to do so, together with Ivana Markova providing a lucid, erudite and carefully documented account of the work of this remarkable group. This book will be an essential resource for any scholar interested in the history of social psychology, as well as upper-level students studying the history of the social sciences.

The Age of the Crowd is at one level an historical account of the development of mass psychology, and at another an analysis of its implications for prevalent political and social life. It was the prophecy of Gustave Le Bon in 1895 that the twentieth century would be 'l'âge des foules' that gave Serge Moscovici the title for his book, and it presents a systematic exposition of Le Bon's ideas and those of Gabriel Tarde, demonstrating convincingly their influence on the theories of collective psychology advanced by Sigmund Freud. These theories are re-examined by Professor Moscovici in a fascinating commentary on political life: Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky all in some way applied them in their leadership styles with consequences that are all too familiar. The scenario painted by this volume is a disturbing one. Serge Moscovici's acute analyses of mass phenomena raise fundamental questions concerning the foundations of democracy.