Gerald Holton uses the life and work of our century's greatest scientist to warn against today's gathering Romantic rebellion, one in which science is blamed for all our social ills, and in which reason is being replaced by New Age "ways of knowing." Through his rich exploration of Einstein's thought, the author shows how the best science depends on great intuitive leaps of imagination, and how science is indeed the creatice expression of the traditions of Western civilization. Wide-ranging and forecful, this book is must reading for anyone interested in the place of science in our world.