Daniel Bell, one of the leading American thinkers of the 20th century, a member of the vaunted and largely Jewish New York Intellectuals and the coiner of such phrases as post-industrial society, died Jan. 25 at 91.
In his 1973 book The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, Bell predicted the emergence of the information economy, social stratification driven by expertise and something like the Internet.
Jacob Weisberg of Slate called Bell one of the genuinely important American thinkers of the 20th century and, on a personal basis, at once a stunningly original mind, an ironic observer of the scene around him, and a genial gossip whose wide-ranging talks were all spiced with Yiddishkeit wisecracking. JTA
