Fifty Key Thinkers in Criminology

Fifty Key Thinkers in Criminology brings the history of criminological thought alive through a collection of fascinating life stories. The book covers a range of historical and contemporary thinkers from around the world, offering a stimulating combination of biographical fact with historical and cultural context. A rich mix of life-and-times detail and theoretical reflection is designed to generate further discussion on some of the key contributions that have shaped the field of criminology. Featured profiles include:

• Cesare Beccaria


• Nils Christie


• Albert Cohen


• Carol Smart


• W. E. B. DuBois


• John Braithwaite.

Fifty Key Thinkers in Criminology is an accessible and informative guide that includes helpful cross-referencing and suggestions for further reading. It is of value to all students of criminology and of interest to those in related disciplines, such as sociology and criminal justice.

'This entry in the "Routledge Key Guides" series places a human face on the study of criminology through thoughtful "intellectual biographies" of the discipline's top international theorists from the 18th through the late 20th century.

The theoreticians emerge as groundbreaking human beings in six-page essays written by a distinguished group of 54 contributors drawn from the ranks of an international faculty of criminologists, sociologists, and historians.

What emerges...is an invaluable reference work.' ? D. K. Frasier, Indiana University--Bloomington, USA

'Every entry that I have read so far has provided precisely the right balance of contextualizing biography and critical appraisal of the thinker?s work. Every
entry invites the reader to dive more deeply into the work of these key contributors to criminology. This is a book that will tempt not just new students, but experienced practitioners and academics into new kinds of engagements with this ?rendezvous discipline'. ? Fergus McNeill, University of Glasgow, Probation Journal, UK