It could have resulted in a thoroughly disillusioned assessment, yet the book also sheds light on the paths opening up for the future. The author had a particular fondness for the utopian novel The Glass Bead Game by essayist Hermann Hesse (Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag AG, 1943). In it, the monk Jacobus says: "To write history is to surrender oneself to chaos while retaining faith in order and the spirit. It is a very serious task, young man, and perhaps a tragic one."
Jean-Claude Gardin (1925–2013).
