This book is invariably stimulating, containing many interesting and provocative ideas on issues central both to social theory and to making sense of the world(s) in which we live. It develops a series of original images or metaphors - gardens v. allotments, double strangers and so on - as aids to understanding social processes. Lively, bold and assured it will interest students of social theory, political science and philosophy.

Introduction, 1. Strangers, 2. Gardens, 3. Sealed Trains, 4. Allotments, 5. Sewage, 6. Freedom, 7. Divergence, 8. Conclusion, Bibliography