Introduction. Social theory: its uses and pleasures -- Part one. Modernity's classical age: 1848-1919 -- Part two. Social theories and world conflict: 1919-1945 -- Part three. The golden moment: 1945-1963 -- Part four. Will the center hold? 1963-1979 -- Part five. After modernity: 1979-2001 -- Part six. Global realities in an uncertain future.