Home Title Index Topic Index Sources Directory News Releases Sources Calendar

The Life of Bertrand Russell

Clark, Ronald W.
Publisher:  Penguin, United Kingdom
Year Published:  1975  
Pages:  979pp   ISBN:  0 14 00.4475 2
Resource Type:  Book

A biography of the political activist, philosopher and mathematician.

Abstract:  Ronald W. Clark has constructed an informative biography of Bertrand Russell. His biography of the political activist, philosopher and mathematician is an in-depth study from personal papers, memoirs, and many additional sources. Interviewing individuals in Russell's life, Clark attempts to describe the emotional complexities behind ideas and actions. Some of the contradiction in Russell's work can be somewhat understood when considered alongside the events of his lifetime.

The book encompasses Russell's entire life from his lineage to his legacy. His political activities and personal struggles are told with near-equal focus. Ideas of pacifism, non-conscription, and his phase of advocating preventive war are examined in the context of Russell's life. There are quotations from his life and unpublished works throughout the volume. These include personal letters and recollected memories.

Told chronologically from upbringing to death, the book has four sections and 24 chapters. The sections are entitled The Reason Why, The New Romantic, A Long March Downhill, and the Last Attachment. They span over all of his recorded experiences and those remembered by family and friends, as well as the events in the public eye. Several photographs of Russell, his family and his work are included. An appendix provides Russell's writing about Ralph Schoenman.

It can be said that "Bertrand Russel lived to inspire the campaign against nuclear warfare." He did many other things in his lifetime that make him a significant figure and a model of social activism. This book attempts to record his achievements alongside his human desires and faults.

[Abstract by Mia Manns]



Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Illustrations

The reason Why
1 The Lodge in the Park
2 Cambridge Chrysalis
3 Marriage in Haste
4 Repentance at Leisure
5 Principia Mathematica

The New Romantic
6 Ottoline
7 Enter Wittgenstein
8 Ottoline: Ebbing Tide
9 An American Adventure
10 Against the Stream
11 Into Battle
12 Colette
13 From War to Peace
14 Turning-Point

A Long March Downhill
15 Start of an Experiment
16 End of an Experiment
17 The American Ordeal
18 A Member of the Establishment

The Last Attachment
19 Towards a Short War with Russia?
20 Into the New World
21 The Genesis of Protest
22 The Rise of Ralph Schoenman
23 The Enigmatic Friendship
24 Once More His Own Man

Appendix: "Private Memorandum concerning Ralph Schoenman" by Bertrand Russell
Sources and Bibliography
Notes and References
Index

Topics
Sources-journalists use the sources website to find you


AlterLinks
c/o Sources


© 2025.