In this influential 1925 essay, Jose Vasconcelos predicted the coming of a new age, the Aesthetic Era, in which joy, love, fantasy, and creativity would prevail over the rationalism he saw as dominating the current age. In this new age, marriages would no longer be dictated by necessity or convenience, but by love and beauty; ethnic obstacles, already in the process of being broken down, especially in Latin America, would disappear altogether, giving birth to a fully mixed race, a "cosmic race", in which all the better qualities of each race would persist by the natural selection of love. The work, which has generated much controversy since it was first published, is here presented in a bilingual format, and includes an introduction by its translator, Didier Jaen, and a new introduction by Joseba Gabilondo.