The compelling story of a decades-long collaboration between social and political theorist Isaiah Berlin and his editor, Henry Hardy, who made it his vocation to bring Berlin's huge body of work into print.

The compelling story of a decades-long collaboration between social and political theorist Isaiah Berlin and his editor, Henry Hardy, who made it his vocation to bring Berlin's huge body of work into print. Isaiah Berlin was one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century – a man who set ideas on fire. His defence of liberty and plurality was passionate and persuasive and inspired a generation. His ideas – especially his reasoned rejection of excessive certainty and political despotism – have become even more prescient and vital today. But who was the man behind such influential views? Hardy discovered that Berlin had written far more than people thought, much of it unpublished. As he describes his struggles with Berlin, who was almost on principle unwilling to have his work published, an intimate and revealing picture of the self-deprecating philosopher emerges. This is a unique portrait of a man who gave us a new way of thinking about the human predicament, and whose work had for most of his life remained largely out of view.

"The new perspective on an important intellectual figure is of great value." - Publishers Weekly

"A touching and often fascinating memoir ... Hardy has done much to preserve the ideas and, indeed, the memory of an extraordinary man for posterity." - Literary Review

"The intellectual thrill of the accuracy of a footnote is the stuff of this work." - The Irish Times

"Written with passion, wit, and verve, […] an invitation to reread a major thinker whose ideas remain relevant today." - Los Angeles Review of Books

"A hugely enjoyable and accessible account of the relationship between the two men." - Jewish Chronicle

"Henry Hardy, the main editor of Isaiah Berlin, has invented a new genre, a sort of “making-of” for academic publishing." - The Berlin Review of Books

"A concise yet comprehensive account of Isaiah Berlin’s thinking." - The Browser