Bertrand Russell (Magill Book Reviews)

Caroline Moorehead provides an acute and entertaining biography of one of the most controversial figures in twentieth century culture. Given Bertrand Russell’s long life and his many interests, she does an admirable job of surveying and assessing the highlights, judiciously noting his triumphs and failures, and demonstrating how they evolved out of his character. Inevitably, a biographical narrative cannot do justice to the intricacy of his philosophical arguments, but the main points of his important books are introduced in a work intended for the general reader.

Russell was the descendent of an aristocratic family. The Russells were Whigs—members of the political party in England who fought for a constitutional monarchy and did much to establish the country’s tradition of civil liberties and individual conscience. Bertrand Russell was expected to make his contribution to that tradition by taking a prominent role in politics. Although he eventually decided in favor of philosophy, he remained active in politics—running for Parliament twice—and he exhibited a fierce dedication to human rights throughout his life.

Russell was married four times. Jailed for his pacifism in World War I, he reversed himself and supported the Allied war effort in World War II, and then became a vehement anti-nuclear activist in the 1950’s and 1960’s. A hugely successful author whose works ranged from highly demanding philosophical treatises to popular reflections on marriage, morals, and education, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

If his credo of rationalism stimulated him to struggle for a humane world, it also contributed to a certain cruelty in his character which made for abrupt shifts in his personal life that were hard on his wives and his children. Moorehead does not flinch from revealing the less flattering sides of Russell while amply showing how his wide-ranging interests made him one of the great intellectuals and popularizers of new ideas in the twentieth century.

Sources for Further Study

The Atlantic. CCLXXII, October, 1993, p.123.

Library Journal. CXVIII, September 15, 1993, p.85.

London Review of Books. XIV, November 19, 1992, p.8.

New Statesman and Society. V, October 2, 1992, p.44.

The New York Times Book Review. XCVIII, October 31, 1993, p.7.

Newsweek. CXXII, November 1, 1993, p.70.

The Observer. October 25, 1992, p.64.

Publishers Weekly. CCXL, August 30, 1993, p.81.

The Spectator. CCLXIX, October 3, 1992, p.29.

The Times Literary Supplement. October 2, 1992, p.13.