The first edition of E.H.Carr's book, published in 1961, aroused much controversy. Before his death in November 1982, Carr had collected a large box of notes towards a second edition, and although he was never able to complete this, the present posthumous edition of the book includes a new preface in which Carr castigates the 'current wave of scepticism and despair' among Western intellectuals and calls for 'a saner and more balanced outlook on the future', as well as an introduction by R.W.Davies which presents the major conclusions in Carr's notes for the second edition.