In this short and engaging book Simon Glendinning traces the origins and development of the idea of a distinctive Continental tradition, critiquing current attempts to survey the field of contemporary philosophy.

Chapter One: Starting Points - An Initiation into Philosophy - Interpreting Philosophy Today - A Working Distinction: Works of and Works in; Chapter Two: A Meeting of (Some) Minds: Phenomenology at Large - A Wide-Angled View - Only a Continental philosopher would say that! - Reading the Other; Chapter Three: The Usual Suspects - Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) - An 'A' List of Continental Philosophers - Movements in the Stream - A Map of Continental Philosophy; Chapter Four: The Analytic Perspective on the Idea - Ryle and the Gulf-Seekers - Hare on Schooling Philosophers - Warnock on Expelling the Alien; Chapter Five: The Continental Perspective on the Idea - Chickening Out - An All-American Story - A Classic Problem; Chapter Six: The (B)end of the Idea - Reaching an End - Enders and Benders - Continental Philosophy Today; Appendix: Continental Philosophy in Britain since 1986.