The Age of Heretics
A History of the Radical Thinkers who Reinvented Management

Advanced Praise for The Age of Heretics...

"Art Kleiner has written a book that is both brilliant pop culture history and bible for business radicals. The perfect book for managerial martyrs who are prepared to be burned at the stake--but would prefer not to be."
-- Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play

"I know of no other book that deals so completely and so effectively with the topic of recent corporate history in America. It is alive with fascinating information. The introductions to each chapter are absolute gems."
-- Myron Stolaroff, author, Thanatos to Eros and The Secret Chief

"It took persistence on Art Kleiner's part to flush out the histories of the people at National Training Laboratories, SRI International, and the Shell planning group. And he has a wonderful way of explaining what they did, and why and how they did it. The book deserves a wide audience."
-- Milt Moskowitz, author, compiler of the "100 Best Places to Work list in Fortune

"The Age of Heretics shows the insidious impact of the cult of numbers that gripped American management thinking after World War II. I like very much Art Kleiner's statement that the purpos of a corporation is, and always has been, to recreate the world."
-- H. Thomas Johnson, author, Profit Beyond Measure

"Why would anyone bother with a book like this? Because it's terrific. The Age of Heretics offers one of the few compelling, intelligent, thoroughly researched histories of the field of organizational development. Kleiner proves particularly adept at summarizing an approach or technique succinctly, as if in passing, and all the while in the context of corporate change movements. The Age of Heretics is what the English like to call 'a rollicking good read': fast-paced, persuasive, and written for adults, not sixth-graders."
-- Jonathan Leyrich, Linkage

"The Age of Heretics is almost unfairly engrossing (I read it in a single sitting.) Its superb and nuanced documentation at times reads almost like an additional narrative. And Kleiner's wonderfully accessible writing makes this intellectual history of organizational development speak to those otherwise put off by the cerebral work."
-- R. Michael Bokeno, Murray State University, Kentucky

"This book provides a brilliant and passionate intellectual trip through the history of corporate vitality today. Above all, it explores how business (that domain so many of us care deeply about) can regain its 'vernacular' roots--reaching back to recognize and re-form some of hte meaningful 'community' ties it once had. I urge anyone who cares about business as a place where personal growth takes place, where work is more than a mere job, and where groups of people achieve great things, to read this book."
-- Tom Ehrenfeld, author, The Startup Garden

"Anyone who works in the area of organizational design or development should read this book. Art puts the history into context and lets us know the people who shaped the ideas. I loved learning about Kurt Lewin, Ron Lippitt, Tom Peters ... and so many others. The stories Art tells help me understand the events that shaped their lives and their thinking. I was truly sorry when I arrived at the last chapter. I wanted to hear more."
-- Roger Breisch, founder, Midwest Organizational Learning Network

"Art has done a great job looking at leaders who have the attribute of 'going against the grain' of the times. It is a very interestingly different cut on leadership models at a time when we seem to be getting a new book on the topic each month that is not always that new."
-- Charlie Seashore, Fielding Institute, American University/NTL Institute

"Isn't the debate over layoffs, C.E.O. compensation, shareholder value, and corporate responsibility--if not about demons and chaos--really about the role corporations play in society? The Age of Heretics pushes that debate past good and evil into ambiguity, where it is really interesting."
-- Barbara Presley Noble, strategy+business

"The Age of Heretics is a fascinating read, illuminating the roots of corporate culture changes that are still evolving today. Very informative and well grounded in history, and the storytelling style makes it a pleasure to read. Not only does it all hang together as an entire piece, but you can sample sections and still get a ton of value."
-- Dan Simpson, vice president, Office of the Chairman, Clorox

"This is a journalistic history of an important chapter of the 20th Century that could easily have gone unwritten: a generation of attempts, more or less countercultural, to reform and reinvent the corporation. It's all here: unpredictable experiments in social engineering, weird tales of engineers dropping acid, computer programs predicting the future of the whole world, and the truly odd omnipresence of an Armenian mystic named G.I. Gurdjieff."
-- Phil Agre, University of California at Los Angeles

"The Age of Heretics is great; beautifully written. I am especially enjoying learning about my unknown professional ancestors."
-- Adam Kahane, author, Solving Tough Problems

"The heroes of Kleiner's book are concerns with reducing the psychic costs of work by better aligning the personal hopes and dreams of employees and the corporations they work for. For students of organizational development the book is full of fascinating insights into people like Douglas McGregor, Kurt Lewin, Chris Argyris, Saul Alinsky, and Warren Bennis."
-- James McRitchie, publisher, Corporate Governance website (www.corpgov.net)

"I could not put it down, and when I had to, because I had finished it, I promptly ordered 35 more copies to give to my close circle of heretics in Hewlett Packard. We are getting much needed energy, inspiration, and even direction in some right-brained way from this book."
-- Barbara Waugh, author, The Soul in the Computer