Although he is generally recognized as one of the leading analysts of contemporary social movements, few of Alberto Melucci's writing writings on the subject have been published in English. Nomads of the Present makes available for the first time in English a coherent and representative sample of Melucci's most important essays. This synthesis of his work on social movements is no mere collection of previously published essays; each chapter draws on the author's work in several different places to present his evaluation of Western theories on social movements supported by both theoretical and empirical research.