By the early 1970s the issue of gender and work had already attracted R. E. Pahl's attention in his and Jan Pahl's 1971 book Managers and their Wives in which the tensions around wives' opportunities for careers were noted. At the same time, Pahl was aware of significant changes occurring in both the housing and labour markets. W. G. Runciman's reflections on the variety of things done by sociologists also support the case for treating Pahl as the author of a modern sociological classic, because of the range of its ambition. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book conveys something of what it was like working with a colleague who was by turns engaging, enthusiastic, questioning, respectful, unconstrained by the niceties of academic convention, and always on the move in search of answers to an ever-shifting agenda.