The Open Society and Its Enemies

Written in political exile during the Second World War and first published in two volumes in 1945, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. Hailed by Bertrand Russell as a 'vigorous and profound defence of democracy', its now legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx exposed the dangers inherent in centrally planned political systems and through underground editions became an inspiration to lovers of freedom living under communism in Eastern Europe.