the ten essays collected here span the scholarly career of Timothy Mason, from the first article he published at the age of twenty-four to one of the last pieces he wrote shortly before his death in 1990. Between that precocious critique of A. J. P. Taylor in 1964 and the final response to critics of his own mature work, Mason's essays on National Socialism and fascism defined or reinterpreted many of the controversies that preoccupied historians during a period of continuous debate. He had long been urged by colleagues to publish a collection of these writings, scattered as they were through a quarter-century of publication in periodicals, edited volumes and conference proceedings. This edition, appearing now five years after Mason's death, has something of the character of a Gedenkschrift, but it is not simply a pious memorial to a talented historian who died too young. Mason's work on the history of Nazi Germany was pathbreaking, and his influence as a teacher and writer has had a profound effect on the shape and direction of research into National Socialism. An easily accessible edition of his major essays is certainly long overdue. It is offered here with the confidence that it will be valued equally by readers familiar with Mason's work and by those discovering it for the first time.

The purpose of this Introduction is to offer a critical context for reading these essays, not a biography of their author or a personal memoir. Readers who want to know more about Mason's personal qualities as teacher, colleague and friend should turn to the eloquent and loving memoirs of his life published in History Workshop Journal in 1990.