Jeffrey Weeks has established an international reputation as one of the most original and influential writers on the social history of sexuality. This new book brings together some of his most important work on the changing patterns of our sexual and intimate lives today. The first part of the book discusses writers on sexuality, from Havelock Ellis to more recent influential thinkers such as Michel Foucault. Jeffrey Weeks gives an account of the social and political context in which they wrote, and assesses how their work has shaped our concepts of sexuality and intimacy. The second part of the book explores the ways in which sociologists and historians have been rethinking sexuality, and how 'the erotic' is being reinvented by new sexual and social movements. He examines the impact of AIDS as well as the gradual changes which have transformed personal lives in this century, and concludes with a review of attitudes and ideas at the end of the millennium. This highly accessible text will be of interest to specialists and students in the areas of sociology and social theory, and history, as well as all those working in the area of gender studies who are concerned with issues of sexuality and intimate life.