In this outstanding collection of essays, Isaiah Berlin, one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, discusses the importance in the history of thought of dissenters whose ideas still challenge conventional wisdom--among them Machiavelli, Vico, Montesquieu, Herzen, and Sorel. With his unusual powers of imaginative re-creation, Berlin brings to life original minds that swam against the current of their times.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Isaiah Berlin was the most esteemed intellectual figure in the English-speaking world. Against the Current may be the most representative of [his] books. -- Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
A historian of ideas, [Berlin] has no equal; and what he has to say is expressed in prose of exceptional lucidity and grace. -- Anthony Storr, Independent on Sunday
Berlin expounds the ideas of half-forgotten thinkers with luminous clarity and imaginative empathy. . . . exhilarating to read. -- Keith Thomas, Observer
A most remarkable intellectual achievement. There are few books published in our time which more dazzlingly illuminate some of the most crucial problems of western culture and civilisation. -- Goronwy Rees, Encounter
A historian of ideas, [Berlin] has no equal; and what he has to say is expressed in prose of exceptional lucidity and grace. -- Anthony Storr, Independent on Sunday
Berlin expounds the ideas of half-forgotten thinkers with luminous clarity and imaginative empathy. . . . exhilarating to read. -- Keith Thomas, Observer
A most remarkable intellectual achievement. There are few books published in our time which more dazzlingly illuminate some of the most crucial problems of western culture and civilisation. -- Goronwy Rees, Encounter
From the Back Cover
'This is an exceptional volume by a remarkable intellectual. Berlin's essays are wide-ranging, rich, deeply learned, and elegant."--Mitchell Cohen, City University of New York
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!,
By
This review is from: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas (Paperback)
Sir Isaiah Berlin was the greatest exponent of Liberal Pluralismin the 20th Century. "Against The Current" is probably his best collection of essays. The essays on Verdi and George Sorel are worth the price of the book alone. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You will not regret it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A core text of modern liberal pluralism,
By sean@mpi-sb.mpg.de (Germany) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Against the Current (Mass Market Paperback)
One of the great, and certainly at least in some quarters most influential, books of historical/ philosophical/ social thinking of the century. An argument for liberal pluralism, not as an abstract theory, but as a pragmatic necessity in the absence of the possibility of theoretical justification. Berlin almost obsessively (except that obsessive is the last word you could imagine applying to Isaiah Berlin) reiterates implicitly, in a collection of, originally independently published, essays on European intellectual history, his ironically simple thesis that the world is complex and contradictory, and not reducible to the terms of simple moral, social or policial ideas. Further, his prose, which - like his thinking - is in the tradition of Hume and Diderot, makes him an unalloyed pleasure to read.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some publisher: Please reprint this wonderful book!,
By rsessions@planning.org (Chicago) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas (Hardcover)
"Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas" has long been out of print and is hard to find in the used market. I wish some publisher would reprint it--I'm sure it would sell well. It was my introduction to this wonderful, careful, rational thinker and his ideas on pluralism, among many other topics. I'm not smart enough to summarize his thought for public consumption; you must read him for yourself. If you are a warm, loving, human being who is interested in how we got to our present intellectual condition, after reading him you will be a convert. Libraries often have "Against the Current," but you can also find great riches in his other books, some of which Amazon.com will be happy to send to you. Put his name in Keyword Search and check out the numerous titles they carry. (No, I'm not a salesman, just a fan.) I can recommend "Crooked Timber of Humanity" as a good start. For a (still) fresh reading of the life of Karl Marx read Berlin's biography of him. Enrich your life; READ ISAIAH BERLIN!!!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
OPPOSITION to the central ideas of the French Enlightenment, and of its allies and disciples in other European countries, is as old as the movement itself. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
supplementary obituary, humane studies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Karl Marx, Moses Hess, Frederick the Great, New York, Roman Republic, Middle Ages, Benjamin Disraeli, French Enlightenment, French Revolution, German Jews, Niccoló Machiavelli, Old Testament, Cecil Roth, The Bell, David Hume, Edmund Silberner, Felix Gilbert, Georges Sorel, Benedetto Croce, Daniel Halévy, Eduard Bernstein, Francis Bacon, Friedrich Engels, Giambattista Vico, Johann Georg Hamann New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
OPPOSITION to the central ideas of the French Enlightenment, and of its allies and disciples in other European countries, is as old as the movement itself. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
supplementary obituary, humane studies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Karl Marx, Moses Hess, Frederick the Great, New York, Roman Republic, Middle Ages, Benjamin Disraeli, French Enlightenment, French Revolution, German Jews, Niccoló Machiavelli, Old Testament, Cecil Roth, The Bell, David Hume, Edmund Silberner, Felix Gilbert, Georges Sorel, Benedetto Croce, Daniel Halévy, Eduard Bernstein, Francis Bacon, Friedrich Engels, Giambattista Vico, Johann Georg Hamann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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100
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cite this book:
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- Personal Impressions by Isaiah Berlin on 7 pages
- Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, Fourth Edition by Sir Isaiah Berlin on 7 pages
- The Power of Ideas by Isaiah Berlin on 6 pages
- My Past and Thoughts by A.I. Gertsen on 6 pages
- Russian Thinkers (Penguin Philosophy) by Isaiah Berlin on 6 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Isaiah Berlin: A Celebration by Edna Ullmann-Margalit on 9 pages
- Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty by Isaiah Berlin on 6 pages
- An Ethic for the Age of Space: A Touchstone for Conduct Among the Stars by Lawrence Leshan on 5 pages
- Three Critics of the Enlightenment by Isaiah Berlin on 5 pages
- Political Realism in International Theory (Cambridge Studies in International Relations) by Roger D. Spegele in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 100 books citing this book
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