The historical perspective - an ever changing emphasis; the categories of granitic rocks - the search for genetic typology; granite as a chemical system - the experimental impact; the physical nature of granitic magmas - a case of missing information; the evolution of the granitic texture - a continuum of crystal growth; differentiation in granitic magmas - zoning as an example of multifactoral processes at work; the volcano-plutonic interface - not Read's hiatus; the evidence of restite - unmixing as an alternative hypothesis; the mingling and mixing of granite with basalt - a third term on a multiple hypothesis; appinites, diatremes and granodiorites - the interaction of "wet" basalt with granite; controls of upwelling and emplacement - the response of the envelope - balloons, pistons and reality; on the rates of emplacement, crystallization and cooling; plagiogranite and ferrogranophyre - extreme differentiation in contrast sitautions; cordilleran-type batholiths - magmatism and crust formation at a plate edge; intraplate rift-related magmatism - mainly A-type, alkali feldspar granites; migmatites - are they a source of granitic plutons?; the waning stages - the role of volatiles in the genesis of pegmatites and metal ores; the sources of granite magmas in their various global tectonic nches; a kind of conclusion - a search for order among multifactoral processes and multifarious interactions (Part contents).