The Dawn of Universal History: Selected Essays from a Witness to the Twentieth Century

A must read for every opponent of totalitarianism and partisan of a chastened or mature liberalism. -- The New Criterion . In this collection of newly translated essays, philosopher and sociologist Raymond Aron chronicles the twentieth century with the authority of an active participant. Combining objectivity with incisive questioning, Aron's reading of movements and people reminds us of what was really at stake. Whether charting the rise of Fascism and Marxism and their respective descents into totalitarianism, or the United States's role as the world's last remaining superpower, Aron was a nondogmatic thinker who emphasized realism over any devotion to theory. The result is history that is less concerned about where it falls on the political spectrum than about getting it right.