Kurt H. Wolff (1912-2003) expanded upon the sociology of knowledge taught to him by one of the field's founders, Karl Mannheim. He created a radical existential approach of "surrender and catch," which "involves a radical existential immersion into concrete reality situating the surrenderer in the 'pure' immediacy of experience and making it necessary to birth new meanings," in the words of editors Backhaus (Loyola College) and Psathas (emeritus, Boston U.), who here present 12 papers exploring the intellectual life and legacy of Wolff. The essays situate Wolff's thought in the context of the German sociology of his formative years and the American sociology of his later years in exile and also develop Wolffian sociology of knowledge in relation to body and the self, questions of power, and the meanings of fun in playing rock and roll music. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)