Isaiah Berlin is widely acknowledged as a major figure in twentieth-century political philosophy and the history of ideas. His famous Oxford inaugural lecture, "Two Concepts of Liberty", especially the last, crucial section, entitled "The One and the Many", has provoked a vast secondary literature. So it is surprising that until now there has been no substantial critical reader dedicated to his work. Editors George Crowder and Henry Hardy have admirably filled this need with this stimulating new volume, which provides a systematic and comprehensive treatment of the main aspects of Berlin's work.The essays (all but one of which are newly commissioned) critically examine Berlin's work across its whole range, including his treatment of Marx, Russian thinkers, Jewish themes, liberty, pluralism, the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, nationalism, history, and religion. The contributors are: Jonathan Allen (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign); Shlomo Avineri (Hebrew University, Jerusalem); Terrell Carver (University of Bristol); Joshua Cherniss (Harvard and Oxford Universities); George Crowder (Flinders University); William A.Galston (University of Maryland), Graeme Garrard (Cardiff University); Ryan Hanley (Marquette University); Henry Hardy (Oxford University); Michael Jinkins (Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary); Mario Ricciardi (University of Milan); Yael Tamir (Tel Aviv University); and Andrzej Walicki (University of Notre Dame).
Complete with a valuable bibliography of works about Isaiah Berlin, this outstanding collection of recent scholarship on a seminal thinker shows the continuing relevance and importance of Berlin's many contributions to the understanding of our contemporary predicament.