Representative selections from Aron's books and essays and four articles of a largely sociological character are translated here for the first time. The collection is enriched by a personal memoir by Edward Shils and marred by countless misprints. The essays-on the intelligibility of history, on Marx and Tocqueville, on the nature of modern society and war-attest to Aron's extraordinary erudition, intelligence and concern with explicating the past while instructing the present. The book also contains some of his essays on international politics in the nuclear age, including his defense of "the morality of prudence." A man of the right who understood Marx and the moral justification of socialism; a man of peace who understood Clausewitz and sought to assess the sources and conduct of modern war. This is a good introduction to the range and depth of Aron's work.