This important book illuminates some theoretical issues of the analysis of language use in social contexts from a historical perspective. The main focus is put on the presentation of various schools of conceptual history, (“Begriffsgeschichte” or “Historische Semantik” in Germany, “socio-histoire des concepts” in France, and the history of ideas in the vein of the “Cambridge School”), which all share a common interest in the analysis of the development of fundamental concepts or terms such as “liberty”, “democracy” or “progress”. However, the structure of the book displays a strong emphasis on the German tradition of the history of concepts, which is complemented by chapters in French and English. (Ralph Müller)