The most renowned French specialists in their fields have contributed to this volume, a sequel to Volumes I and II which dealt with the subject of life and humanity. The two earlier volumes appeared respectively in June and October 2000
The present book sheds light on the major issues raised by cities and the environment, history, the economy, the family, work, communications, violence, and the State, among others.

With contributions form Gilbert Abraham-Frois, Edmond Alphandéry, François Ascher, Martine Barthélemy, Alain Bauer, Zygmunt Bauman, Jean Bazin, Hans Belting, Bruno Berthon, Pascal Boniface, Bernard Brunhes, Robert Castel, Olivier Cayla, Françoise Champion, Louis Chauvel, Jean-Marie Chevalier, Daniel Cohen, Elie Cohen, Béatrice Collignon, Alain Corbin, Geoffrey Crossick, Michel Didier, Yann Duchesne, Philippe Engelhardt, Geneviève Fraisse, Michel Friedlander, François Gaudu, Xavier Gaullier, Jean-Louis Gombeaud, Christian Grataloup, Laurent Grégoire, Michel Grésillon, Yves Guermond, Françoise Héritier, Pierre Jacob, Denis Kessler, Richard Kleinschmager, Serge-Christophe Kolm, Catherine Labrusse, Abdallah Laroui, Claude Lefort, Jacques Le Goff, Jean-Pierre Le Goff, Philippe Lemoine, Thierry Leterre-Robert, Jean-Hervé Lorenzi, Michel Maffesoli, Philippe Martin, Yves Michaud, Jérôme Monnet, Olivier Mongin, Gérard Noiriel, Frédéric Ocqueteau, Jean-Pierre Orfeuil, Pascal Ory, Habib Ouane, Françoise Parot, Jean-Claude Passeron, Michelle Perrot, Etienne Picard, Denise Pumain, Alain Renaut, Michel Rocard, Robert Rochefort, Marcel Roncayolo, Didier Roux, Alain Schnapp, François de Singly, Jean-François Six, Brigitte Stern, Christian Stoffaës, Serge Tisseron, Alain Touraine, Jean-Didier Urbain, Yvan Verot, Jean-Claude Ziv.