The Open Society and Its Enemies is a two-volume work on political philosophy by Karl Popper. Written during World War II, it failed to find a publisher in the United States and was first printed in London by Routledge in 1945. The work criticises theories of teleological historicism in which history unfolds inexorably according to universal laws, and indicts as totalitarian Plato, Hegel and Marx for relying on historicism to underpin their political philosophies. It was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century.
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