Against the Current

"A Jewish refugee from Bolshevik Russia who found a home in the British establishment, Isaiah Berlin was always drawn to the traffic between insiders and outsiders, between fugitive experiences and dominant norms. We see this attraction in these classic essays: not only in his article on nationalism, which he saw as the work of non-nationals, but also in his continuous effort to introduce strange figures into the canon and to make canonical figures strange. Paddling against the current, Berlin made us feel the full extent and depth of its force." --Corey Robin, City University of New York "An excellent new edition. Mark Lilla's bracing foreword elegantly reminds philosophers why they need to read Berlin, and the judiciously chosen letters from Berlin's personal correspondence illuminate the thinking behind some of his most celebrated essays." --Jan-Werner Mueller, Princeton University