Foucault, Bourdieu, and Derrida figure at the top of the list of most-cited authors of books in America's humanities

As Duncan writes, the "Most cited authors of books in the humanities" list explains a lot: The table linked

lists those authors whose books, collectively, were cited 500 or more times in 2007. While representing a somewhat rough summary, these results provide some insight into the current trends in research in the social sciences and humanities: the listed authors serve as symbols for their ideas and approaches.