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The Amazon Store at MillionDollarPetPix.com ( In association with Amazon.com )Russian Thinkers (Pelican books)by: Isaiah Berlin  Dewey Decimal Number: 947.07 EAN: 9780140222609 ISBN: 014022260X Label: Penguin (Non-Classics) Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: October 25, 1979 Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics) Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Among the seven essays collected in Russian Thinkers is perhaps Isaiah Berlin's most famous work, "The Hedgehog and the Fox," which begins with an ancient Greek proverb ("The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing") before taking on Leo Tolstoy's philosophy of history, showing how Tolstoy "was by nature a fox, but believed in being a hedgehog." The other half dozen pieces examine other Russian writers and philosophers, including Alexander Herzen, Ivan Turgenev, and Mikhail Bakunin--although the latter, Berlin says, "is not a serious thinker. There are no coherent ideas to be extracted from his writings of any period, only fire and imagination, violence and poetry, and an ungovernable desire for strong sensations." Few, if any, English-language critics have written as perceptibly about Russian thought and culture as the Latvian-born Berlin, and the history covered in Russian Thinkers is a unique elaboration of Berlin's theses concerning the impact of ideas upon culture. Product Description: The theme that links the essays in this book, written over 30 years, is the phenomenon of the Russian intelligentsia, which Isaiah Berlin describes as "the largest single Russian contribution to social change in the world". The author brings to his portraits of Russian thinkers - and his subject range is as diverse as may be expected - a unique perception of the social and political circumstances that produced men such as Herzen, Bakunin, Turgenev, Belinsky and Tolstoy. Average Rating:
 Rating: - There's nobody quite like Isaiah BerlinLike every single book of Berlin's I ever read, starting with The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History, I enjoyed this one immensely. There is nobody quite like Berlin. yes, his sentences seem never to end, but there is so much insight and quiet passion packed into every one of them that he really makes the reader feel he or she understands how these isolated desperate and frustrated Russians thought and why. Rating: - THINKING ABOUT "RUSSIAN THINKERS"This is a very important book in my opinion, because it analyzes certain utopian ideas that produced chaos during the 20th Century, but remain popular today despite their horrible track record. Basically, this outstanding work of historical scholarship is about a group of Russian intellectuals who believed if they rid Russia of the monarchy, capitalism, and Russian Orthodox Church, life would be wonderful. So the Tsar and his family were killed, capitalism was wiped out, and the Russian Orthodox ... Read More Rating: - Mind-blowing!All essays in this collection are remarkable but 'The Hedgehog and the Fox' is one of those essays that will take you on a trip to the relativity of truth and have you question both the physical and metaphysical through Berlin's eyes. There are many philosophical angles from which one can interpret Berlin's analysis of the Russian intelligentsia, the one that stands out the most is the question that defined nineteenth Russia, as well as Europe:'What is to be done?' There are two strains ... Read More Rating: - Berlin at his best - the true fox This study of Russian thinkers is profound and moving. Isaiah Berlin was capable of writing about 'ideas' and their ' development' in a constantly fascinating way. His most well- known essay ' The Hedgehog and the Fox' is in this volume and it seems that Berlin himself was one of those who knew many things and wanted to know many things. His political ideas also took the shape of recognizing conflicting value systems as having validity even when those came from within a single person. Here he writes ... Read More Rating: - Highly Useful Historic ResourceThis book provides an excellent introduction to the history of Russian thought. I supplemented it with the pertinent chapters of Billington's "The Icon and the Axe" to piece together a general outline of the evolution of Russian political philosophy. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to Berlin's own philosophizing, but then that wasn't my objective. I found one of his general observations about Russian thought to be particularly useful, i.e. the tendency to follow an idea through to its fullest consequences, ... Read More 
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