In this article, the authors attempt to provide background for this special issue in honor of Harry Eckstein and his work. A brief sketch of Eckstein's personal life is offered, focusing on his formative experiences in Hitler's Germany. The article then turns to an in-depth analysis of three of Eckstein's writings: his splendid essay titled “Political Science and Public Policy”; his unrivaled overview of the field of comparative politics in “A Perspective on Comparative Politics, Past and Present”; and his attempt to redirect the discipline of political science in “Authority Patterns: A Structural Basis for Political Inquiry.” Eckstein's work holds up well, less in the sense that it has triumphed in the discipline as a whole (both Eckstein and his critics agree that it has not) and more in the sense that it serves as a constant reference point for an ongoing dialogue about questions that will never be settled.
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