The grand historical and social theorizing of early in this century--works that conjure up names like Marx, Spengler, Toynbee, and Sorokin--has been out of favor for many years. Only recently have two new schools of research, comparative civilizational studies and world systems analysis, emerged to examine societies in the broadest possible terms. These two intellectual movements have run on parallel tracks, seldom engaging in each other's work--until now Sanderson invites the leading figures in these two groups--including Wallerstein, MacNeill, Frank, Wilkinson, Chase-Dunn, and Robertson--to compare and contrast their assumptions and conclusions about broad-scale social and historical change. A mixture of newly commissioned work and recently published articles, this book is unmatched as a useful introduction to current thinking about global historical change.