Until now an overview of the history of linguistics during the 20th century has been lacking. With this book, Wolfgang Wildgen fills this gap. Starting with the predecessors of Saussure, the main chapters highlight the most important trends. Special attention is given to sustainable approaches. Wildgen also evaluates the yield of linguistic research and completes the book by describing the challenges of the 21st century. An appendix discusses the problem of the mathematization of linguistics.