The dawn of universal history: selected essays from a witness of the twentieth century / Raymond Aron ; translated by Barbara Bray ; edited by Yair Reiner ; with an introduction by Tony Judt.

"The essays in this book were originally published in 1996 in France as part of Une histoire du XXe siècle ..."--T.p. verso.

Introduction / Tony Judt -- Nations and Empires -- From Sarajevo to Hiroshima. The Technological Surprise. The Dynamic of Total War. The Leninist Myth About Imperialism. War and the Total State. Necessity and Accidents -- The Secular Religions. Democratic and Totalitarian States. The Future of Secular Religions. From Marxism to Stalinism. The Expansion of Stalinism -- The Imperial Republic. Prologue: The Island-Continent. The United States and the International System -- The End of Colonial Empires. What Empires Cost and What Profits They Bring. Indochina. The Algerian Tragedy. Algeria and the Republic -- The Dawn of Universal History.