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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2018
Sidney Verba sta lavorando ad un nuovo libro, in collaborazione con Henry Brady e Kay Schlozman. Verba ha 71 anni, e molti si sarebbero aspettati che prendesse congedo dalla ricerca creativa per scrivere saggi sintetici sulla storia della disciplina. Dopo tutto Verba era presente alla nascita del movimento comportamentista in politica comparata — uno degli autori di The Civic Culture. E inoltre negli ultimi decenni ha pubblicato due importanti libri sul volontariato civico e sulla partecipazione politica, per un totale di quasi 1.100 pagine (Verba, Schlozman e Brady 1995; Burns, Schlozman e Verba 2001). È anche riuscito a pubblicare quattro articoli sulla American Political Science Review, tre sul Journal of Politics, due sull'American Journal of Political Science e due rispettivamente sul British Journal of Political Science e sul Journal of Theoretical Politics. Un livello di produttività notevole per studiosi di qualsiasi età. Di certo nessuno avrebbe obiezioni se si prendesse una pausa.
Sidney Verba claims he largely owes his long and distinguished career in political science to a series of accidental events in his young days. Verba did not set out to follow a carefully planned career path. One project led to another: this is how he describes his involvement as a key player in the behavioral revolution in the fields of both comparative and American politics. However, upon close inspection, several common threads emerge that have guided Verba throughout his professional life: concerns about equality, citizenship, the nature of the relationship of individuals to the state, democracy, and how it leads to people's attitudes. The normative concern is evident and deeply felt, although this does not prevent Verba from objectively weighing the evidence. His works are significant not only for the substantive importance of the questions addressed but also for the methodological innovations. What truly sets Verba apart from his generation of equally accomplished scholars may be that at age 70 he continues to be actively engaged in research based on data and to produce books and journal articles with substantive research findings. After receiving numerous awards for his lifetime contributions to the discipline, Verba remains an active, committed political scientist.