This chapter gives an introductory characterisation of the history of metaphysics throughout the twentieth century. Metaphysics was a respectable area of philosophy in the early twentieth century, but fell into disrepute, and finally revived in the late twentieth century. The anti-metaphysics trends in the mid-twentieth century are understood as revolutions aimed at stopping certain modes of inquiry such as metaphysics. The revival of metaphysics is interpreted as a reaction to these revolutionary movements, with a return to old metaphysical questions that were widely studied before the anti-metaphysical revolutions erupted. This chapter also contains a detailed account of Williams’s biographical career, as well as a statement of the methodology used in this book and its main thesis. The main thesis is that Williams played a key role in the survival and revival of metaphysics in the analytic tradition.