Written in Frankfurt am Main in April 1969, the preface explains Max Horkheimer’s and Theodor W. Adorno’s decision to reissue Dialectic of Enlightenment, first published in 1947. The book found its audience slowly and had long been unavailable. Furthermore, the authors received widespread requests for its reissue and believed that many of its ideas remained timely. They stress their equal responsibility for every sentence, noting they dictated long stretches together and that the book’s vitality derives from the productive tension between their two intellectual temperaments.

The authors admit that they do not stand fully behind the original formulations, which were written as National Socialist rule was nearing its end. This position is consistent with their view that truth has a historical core rather than being invariable. They note that some passages do not adequately address the realities of 1969 as competing global blocs and “Third World” conflicts accompany resurgent totalitarianism. The authors assert that the book’s predicted movement toward total integration has been “interrupted but not terminated” (xii), and that their prognosis about enlightenment’s regression into positivism has been confirmed.

Returning to Germany from the United States after the war, the authors and their colleague