By way of apology for the title of this article, I should point out that it r not merely to Anthony Giddens's recent A Contemporary Critique of H ical Materialism, but also to the fact that I am discussing an enormous energetic and prolific writer responsible over the last few years for ap gious outpouring of books that develop, and sometimes modify a cohe set of views on social theory. To attempt to summarize, and subje criticism such an oeuvre is a little like trying to catch quicksilver.

My reasons for nevertheless making the attempt are twofold. First, the erudition and intellectual range of Giddens's work commands our attent A writer who draws on such a wide variety of thinkers-Marx, W Durkheim, Mead, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Schutz, Foucault, Derrid name but a few-to develop his own distinctive theory deserves se consideration especially in the light of the deeply parochial nature of so British intellectual culture. The two books under review, one an ambit reworking of social theory, the other a collection of essays that illustrat reworking mainly through the criticism of others' views, offer an adm opportunity to assess the direction and coherence of Giddens's project