Upon returning from Europe in 1939, Draper was approached by a new fellow-traveling publishing house called Modern Age Publishers with an offer for Ted to write a book on the European political situation. Draper used the book advance as an excuse to quit "The New Masses" and he headed for Paris to conduct further research. Draper returned to the United States in November 1939, but the changing political situation — and the changing political line of the Communist Party in response to this — ultimately scrapped Draper's book project despite multiple re-writes.