The end of the century is a good time to take stock of who we are and where we are going. This book is a sociological exploration of the troubles many people are now experiencing in a new age of anxiety. Using interviews with a diversity of successful people, the author suggests that the insecurities now afflicting us are leading people to seek a new balance between work, family and other obligations. The meaning of "success" has become elusive. Offering vivid accounts of their lives, the men and women interviewed point out the problematic nature of success and the tension for character of self-identity in an age plunged into dramatic social change. Anxiety is a spur to success, but "success", whatever that now means, often serves only to further such anxieties rather than reduce them. This book provides new insights into problems which affect not only the "successful", but the majority of people living in modern societies. It should be of interest to a wide lay readership, as well as to first-year undergraduates and above in the areas of sociology, cultural studies and social theory.