I'd never heard of Tony Judt before I got this book for Christmas, but the format and the chapter themes were intriguing enough so that I ended up devouring the whole thing in two days. It's always a pleasure to read two intelligent people exchanging thoughts. Although I find intellectual history a bit too elitist for my taste, there is much more in the book. The main theme seems to be the rise of the state in the 20th century, the different forms it took, and the form it should perhaps take. Sometimes Judt's pluralism feels a bit like fence-sitting, but for someone coming from the Nordic countries, it was easy to identify with his politics. Recommended, absolutely.