Conversations With Isaiah Berlin - Hardcover

In these conversations Isaiah Berlin, one of the most renowned thinkers of our time, discusses the development of his ideas and political philosophy, interspersing it with many personal reminiscences. He talks about Machiavelli, Marx, Vico, Herder and Herzen to name but a few of those who have influenced him. The conversations follow him from Petrograd to Oxford, from Washington to Moscow, from London to Jerusalem. He speaks of his friends and contemporaries, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Igor Stravinsky, A.J. Ayer, Bertrand Russell and many others. He talks about his moving encounters with Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak and Chaim Weizmann. He also shares with the reader his passion for music and literature, giving us an insight into his life and personality.

RAMIN JAHANBEGLOO Born 1956, Iran. Currently lectures in Political Philosophy and Comparative Politics at the University of Toronto. ISAIAH BERLIN Born 1909, Lithuania. In 1916 he moved with his family to Petrograd. In 1921 his family moved to England. Educated at St Paul¿s School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Thereafter he remained at Oxford, where he held Fellowships at All Souls College and New College, and became Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory (1957¿67) and first President of Wolfson College (1966¿75). He was President of the British Academy from 1974 to 1978. He died in Oxford in November 1997. During the Second World War he was sent by the FO to New York (1941); Washington (1942 ¿ 1946), Moscow (1945¿6. He received many honorary degrees as well as the Erasmus , Lippincott, Jerusalem and Agnelli Prizes.