Past, Present and Future

About the Book

The present book is about history, written through the satirical eyes of a Hungarian refugee in the early 1960s, a few years after he settled in England. The title “Past, Present and Future,” together with the subtitle “An Irreverent Treatment of History,” explains beautifully what the book is about. Brief but profound historical judgments are made about everything that matters: socialism, capitalism, communism, Nazism, colonialism, revolution, science, religion, war and peace, and stability and anarchy. The common factor is power. Everything is explained by the love of power by individuals, groups, social classes, dictators, and nations—by people who are high up and by people who are low down.

About the Author

Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an Emeritus Professor. During his career he had Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid and Budapest.