<div>How do we use our mental images of the present to reconstruct <br>our past? Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) addressed this <br>question for the first time in his work on collective memory, <br>which established him as a major figure in the history of <br>sociology. This volume, the first comprehensive English- <br>language translation of Halbwach's writings on the social <br>construction of memory, fills a major gap in the literature <br>on the sociology of knowledge. <br><br>Halbwachs' primary thesis is that human memory can only <br>function within a collective context. Collective memory, <br>Halbwachs asserts, is always selective; various groups of <br>people have different collective memories, which in turn give <br>rise to different modes of behavior. Halbwachs shows, for <br>example, how pilgrims to the Holy Land over the centuries <br>evoked very different images of the events of Jesus' life; <br>how wealthy old families in France have a memory of the past <br>that diverges sharply from that of the nouveaux riches; and <br>how working class constructions of reality differ from those <br>of their middle-class counterparts. <br><br>With a detailed introduction by Lewis A. Coser, this <br>translation will be an indispensable source for new research <br>in historical sociology and cultural memory. <br><br>Lewis A. Coser is Distinguished Professor of Sociology <br>Emeritus at the State University of New York and Adjunct <br>Professor of Sociology at Boston College. <br><br>The Heritage of Sociology series<br><br></div>