This collection of hard-hitting and highly readable essays reflects Gombrich's preoccupation with the central questions of value and tradition in our culture. He confronts - with characteristic incision and erudition - some of the most urgent issues that challenge today's students of art and civilization.

His topics include a series of radical proposals for the reform of higher education, an assault on the notion of relativism and a heartfelt plea for the conservation of our cities, alongside thought-provoking and engaging studies of the works of Oskar Kokoschka, Abram Games, Saul Steinberg and Henri Cartier-Bresson.