Introduction Max Horkheimer's critical theory has earned a dubious distinction as a theory wrecked by the historical events in which it was born. Begun in the early 1930s as an interdisciplinary enterprise in philosophy and the social sciences that was animated by an expectation of the revolutionary transformation of society, the catastrophes of fascism, world war, and authoritarian socialism so shook the foundations of critical theory that the expectation of a connection between theory and revolutionary practice could never be recovered. The critical theorist takes up permanent residence in the “Grand Hotel Abyss,” recalling Lukàcs's hyperbolic dismissal, holding the experience…