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Synopsis
356p large cloth with dustjacket, frontispiece, notes, index, photographic plates, as new, very good and fresh clean copy
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Review
Russian by birth, Jewish by descent, English by choice, Isaiah Berlin (1909-97) knit together three identities into a cosmopolitan sensibility that informed his contributions as one of the 20th century's most influential and important intellectuals. Based on his experiences as a child during the Russian Revolution and his friendships with such beleaguered writers as Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, Berlin affirmed the superiority of individual freedom and judgment to Marxist totalitarianism. But he made fellow liberals uncomfortable with his unwelcome reminders that their ideals--liberty, equality, social justice--inevitably conflicted and required painful tradeoffs. London-based journalist Michael Ignatieff, who spent 10 years interviewing Berlin before his death, adeptly captures an appealing man: lighthearted, spontaneous, a brilliant conversationalist and lecturer (one of Oxford University's most popular professors), able to savor private happiness despite an essentially tragic view of political life. Ignatieff admires Berlin's views without accepting them uncritically; similarly, he acknowledges personal failings while appreciating the serenity Berlin achieved against considerable odds. This lucidly written, thoughtfully argued work is a model of the well-balanced biography, carefully evaluating the complex interplay of character and conviction in one remarkable individual. --Wendy Smith
About the Author
Michael Ignatieff is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. He is the author of The Warrior's Honor (Metropolitan Books, 0-8050-5519-3), The Russian Album, The Needs of Strangers, and Scar Tissue, a novel short-listed for the Booker Prize. He lives in London.
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- PublisherChatto & Windus
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0701163259
- ISBN 13 9780701163259
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Rating
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Isaiah Berlin
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Isaiah Berlin: A Life
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Chatto & Windus 22/10/1998, 1998
ISBN 10: 0701163259
ISBN 13: 9780701163259
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Isaiah Berlin
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ISBN 10: 0701163259
ISBN 13: 9780701163259
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Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Isaiah Berlin refused to write an autobiography, but he agreed to talk about himself-and so for ten years, before Berlin's death in November 1997, he allowed Michael Ignatieff to interview him about his past, his ideas, his most intimate memories, his inner conflicts. This is an extraodinary biography, full of Berlin's own voice and presence, supplemented by untouched personal archives. It will be the authoritative biography for decades. Isiah Berlin (1909-97) was one of the greatest and most humane of modern philosophers; historian of the Russian intellgentisia, biographer of Marx, pioneering scholar of the Romantic movement and defender of the liberal idea of freedom. His own life was caught up in the most powerful currents of the century. The son of a Riga timber merchant, as a child in St Petersburg he witnessed the Russian Revolution- when his family came to England in 1921 he plunged into suburban school life and the ferment of 1930s Oxford; as a member of All Souls he was part of the British intellectual establishment. During the war, he was at the Anglo-American diplomacy in Washington; afterwards, in Moscow he saw the grim despair of Stalinism. This book is full of memora. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001612620
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Isaiah Berlin : A Life
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Isaiah Berlin: A Life
Published by
Chatto & Windus 22/10/1998, 1998
ISBN 10: 0701163259
ISBN 13: 9780701163259
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