Book excerpt: Our view of our Galaxy has recently been undergoing an increasing divergence from the traditional standpoint. In this book ten authors discuss in eight chapters how the conceptions of the Milky Way have moved in new directions. Starting with the inner parsec and the Center of the Galaxy, the book gradually moves on to the bulge and its relation to the globular clusters and to the disk, of which the presence of a bar is argued. A new look on the HI distribution in the disk, a synthesis of molecular line surveys and the study of stellar populations are discussed in the last three chapters.