T h e present book is not a restatement of my original article,
n o r is it an effort to continue the discussion with that article's
many critics and commentators. Least of all is it an account of the
e n d of the Cold War, or any othe r pressing topic in contemporary
politics. While this book is informed by recent world events, its
subject returns to a very old question: Whether, at the end of the
twentieth century, it makes sense for us once again to speak of a
coherent an d directional History of mankind that will eventually
lead the greate r part of humanity to liberal democracy?