Nineteen distinguished scholars, writers, and political practitioners consider the growing chasm between certain obsolete attitudes and the realities of our political and social life. Ranging over such diverse subjects as "The Future of the Race Issue," "The Economics of Disarmament," "America and the Communist Challenge," "The Case of the Ailing Unions," and "The Future of the Metropolis," they dissect the issues and contribute practical, brilliant, and often original solutions, which may serve as guideposts for the future.
Leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics. He made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law, and his Politics Among Nations, first published in 1948, went through many editions and was for decades the most-used textbook in its field in U.S. universities. In addition, Morgenthau wrote widely about international politics and U.S. foreign policy for general-circulation publications such as The New Leader, Commentary, Worldview, and The New Republic. He knew and corresponded with many of the leading intellectuals and writers of his era, such as Reinhold Niebuhr, George F. Kennan, and Hannah Arendt. At one point in the early Cold War, Morgenthau was a consultant to the U.S. Department of State when Kennan headed its Policy Planning Staff. For most of his career, however, Morgenthau was an academic critic of U.S. foreign policy rather than a formulator of it.