Description:This volume offers an accessible, higher-level introduction to a key selection of individual continental thinkers from Spinoza to Baudrillard. Covering "classical" exponents of the continental tradition such as Hegel and Marx, "moderns" like Gramsci and Habermas and "postmoderns" like Deleuze and Virilio, this book introduces the main ideas of each thinker and surveys the theoretical and political uses made of each by contemporary scholars. The breadth and contemporary angle make this a unique, up-to-date collection on central figures that will be invaluable to students and teaching staff.