Enlightening: Letters 1946-1960
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.36 (506 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0701178892 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 900 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-01-03 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A connoisseur of personalities Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes have done a fine job putting together this second volume of Isaiah Berlin's letters, covering the period 19A connoisseur of personalities John F. Leamons Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes have done a fine job putting together this second volume of Isaiah Berlin's letters, covering the period 1946 to 1960. Apparently, they have published 20-25 percent of the material from this period. That must be about right, because (a) at about 850 pages the volume makes for a pleasant weekend's reading and (b) the weaker letters, of which there are not many, are only just worth including. The editorial. 6 to 1960. Apparently, they have published 20-25 percent of the material from this period. That must be about right, because (a) at about 850 pages the volume makes for a pleasant weekend's reading and (b) the weaker letters, of which there are not many, are only just worth including. The editorial. "More fascinating Isaiah Berlin letters" according to Ronald H. Clark. This is the successor volume to the superb collection covering Berlin letters from 1928-19More fascinating Isaiah Berlin letters Ronald H. Clark This is the successor volume to the superb collection covering Berlin letters from 1928-1946.The editors, Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes, inform us that because of the heavier volume of letters IB wrote during the postwar period until his death in 1997, they are now projecting at least two more volumes to follow. The same extraordinary editorial dilgence manifested in the prior volume is demonstrated once again. Every letter is annota. 6.The editors, Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes, inform us that because of the heavier volume of letters IB wrote during the postwar period until his death in 1997, they are now projecting at least two more volumes to follow. The same extraordinary editorial dilgence manifested in the prior volume is demonstrated once again. Every letter is annota
This second volume of Berlin’s letters takes up the story when, after war service in the U.S., he returns to life as an Oxford don. "People are my landscape," Isaiah Berlin liked to say, and nowhere is the truth of this observation more evident than in his letters. Against the background of post-war austerity, the letters chart years of academic frustration and self-doubt, the intellectual explosion when he moves from philosophy to the history of ideas, his growing national fame as broadcaster and lecturer, the publication of some of his best-known works, his election to a professorship, and his reaction to knighthood. Berlin’s visits to American universities, where he sees McCarthyism at work, and his journeys eastwardto Europe, Palestine (and later Israel), and the Soviet Unioninspire acute and often very funny portraits. These are the years, too, of momentous developments in his private life: the bachelor don’s loss of sexual innocence, the emotional turmoil of his father’s death, his courtship of a married woman, and his transformation into husband and stepfather.
"Amusing." —Library Journal