Durkheim wrote hitherto unknown and unpublished reports for the social and economic sciences section of the government's Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques. There are 56 reports in all, each reviewing a book - e.g. William James's Varieties of Religious Experience - and recommending whether or not to purchase it for state-funded libraries.

The reports are of considerable interest in their range, content and confidential nature. This critical and fully annotated edition makes them available for the first time, along with reports that others made to the committee on Durkheim's own books. The context is explained in an editorial introduction, 'Durkheim au CTHS', and in a specially commissioned essay by the historian of philosophy and social science in the Third Republic, Jean-Louis Fabiani.