The social programs of the five Nordic countries have helped transform ideals of equality and social justice into reality. Yet despite this success, the rest of the world has been slow to apply these programs to their own societies. Are there lingering doubts that the Scandanavian societies have produced something remarkable? Or have equality and social welfare merely lost some of their allure in the 1980's? These are the kinds of questions Stephen Graubard poses in his Introduction, and that Nordic historians, social scientists, and critics attempt to answer in this thought-provoking work.