The article comments on the recent documental discoveries on Émile Durkheim's oeuvre, and evaluates its impact on the French sociologist's legacy. It aims at enabling the reader to more completely understand the exchange between Durkheim and Salomon Reinach, dedicating special attention to the subject of totemism, one of the fundamental issues of The elementary forms of religious life, published in 1912, and to Durhkeim's involvement with the Dreyfuss affair, which illuminates his political orientation and loyalties.
Émile Durkheim; Salomon Reinach; history of French sociology; sociological theory