The remarkably diverse writings of Zygmunt Bauman range across a large number of issues in sociology, politics, history, and cultural studies. This is the first collection of Bauman's writings that covers the entire breadth of his work, and includes a summarizing essay and commentary by editor Peter Beilharz. As a whole, this is not only a guide to Bauman's way of thinking, but a guide to making sense of our times through the major work of one of the most important figures in late-twentieth-century social thought

Peter Beilharz holds a Chair in Sociology at La Trobe University, Australia. In 1980 he co-founded Thesis Eleven, the international journal of social theory. His major books include Labour's Utopias (1992), Postmodern Socialism (1994), Transforming Labor (1994), Imagining the Antipodes (1997), and Zygmunt Bauman: Dialectic of Modernity (2000)