Isaiah Berlin was one of the great public intellectuals of his time. A magnetic speaker and beacon of liberal philosophy, he gained first-hand experience of some of the pivotal events of the twentieth century and crossed paths with luminaries from Virginia Woolf to Sigmund Freud. Declining to write an autobiography, Berlin instead agreed to give extensive interviews to acclaimed writer Michael Ignatieff in the final decade of his life.The result is a magisterial biography that pene...

Reissue of a profound exploration of the concept of human need by the esteemed author of On ConsolationWhat does a person need, not just to survive, but to flourish? In this profound, searching book, Michael Ignatieff explores the many human needs that go beyond basic sustenance: for love, for respect, for community and consolation. In a society of strangers, how might we find a common language to express such needs?Ignatieff's lucid, penetrating e...

In 1917 wordt graaf Pavel Ignatieff gevangengenomen. Hij ontloopt zijn executie ternauwernood omdat Oekraïense vakbondsmedewerkers hem herkennen en beschermen tegen de soldaten van het Rode Leger. De grootvader van Michael Ignatieff streed voor verbetering van hun positie en was onder meer minister en gouverneur van Kyiv. De familie Ignatieff had generaties lang veel macht en invloed en leefde in het tsarenrijk in grote welvaart. Begin vorige eeuw vluchtten Pavel en Natasja en hun kinderen...

De manera inesperada, el fin de la guerra fría trajo consigo el resurgir del nacionalismo, una ideología romántica que parecía superada. Para poder vivir de cerca este fenómeno y tratar de comprenderlo, Michael Ignatieff emprendió un viaje a seis lugares claves del nuevo nacionalismo: la antigua Yugoslavia, Alemania, Ucrania, Quebec, Kurdistán e Irlanda del Norte. El resultado es un brillante ensayo que sigue de plena actualidad, en el que Ignatieff alerta de los peligros del nacionalismo ...

What moral values do human beings hold in common? As globalization draws us together economically, are our values converging or diverging? In particular, are human rights becoming a global ethic? These were the questions that led Michael Ignatieff to embark on a three-year, eight-nation journey in search of answers. The Ordinary Virtues presents Ignatieff’s discoveries and his interpretation of what globalization―and resistance to it―is doing to our conscience and our moral unders...

Timely and profound philosophical meditations on how great figures in history, literature, music, and art searched for solace while facing tragedies and crises, from the internationally renowned historian of ideas and Booker Prize finalist Michael IgnatieffWhen we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes—war, famine, pandemic—we go in search of consolation. Once the province of priests and philosophers, the language of consolatio...

'Een prachtige mix van literair onderzoek en persoonlijke reflectie. Veelomvattend, ontroerend en gegoten in een prachtige stijl.' – Sarah Bakewell, auteur van 'De existentialisten' en 'Hoe te leven' Wanneer we een naaste kwijt raken, wanneer we geconfronteerd worden met verlies, wanneer er sprake is van een ramp gaan we op zoek naar troost. Wat doe je als je denkt: hoe kan ik nu verder? Waarom hebben we vaak niet meer dan clichés om onszelf en elkaar op te beuren? Met die vragen in het ac...

As read on BBC Radio 4's 'Book of the Week', a timely, moving and profound exploration of how writers, composers and artists have searched for solace while facing loss, tragedy and crisis, from the historian and Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Michael Ignatieff.'This erudite and heartfelt survey reminds us that the need for consolation is timeless, as are the inspiring words and examples of those who walked this path before us.' Toronto Star

Reissue of an incisive exploration of the many faces of modern nationalism by the esteemed author of On ConsolationIn 1993 Michael Ignatieff set out on a journey to the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Germany, Quebec, Kurdistan and Northern Ireland in order to explore the many faces of modern nationalism. Why, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, were so many nation states disintegrating into ethnic conflict? What did nationalism prom...

In 2005 Michael Ignatieff left his life as a writer and professor at Harvard University to enter the combative world of politics back home in Canada. By 2008, he was leader of the country’s Liberal Party and poised—should the governing Conservatives falter—to become Canada’s next Prime Minister. It never happened. Today, after a bruising electoral defeat, Ignatieff is back where he started, writing and teaching what he learned.What did he take away from this crash course in politic...

Consolare: trovare conforto insieme, cercare di condividere la sofferenza di qualcuno o di sopportare meglio la nostra. È un'esperienza che accompagna tutti, donne e uomini, da sempre. Ma se un tempo si contava sull'aiuto delle promesse religiose o delle convinzioni filosofiche, oggi ci ritroviamo sempre più muti e inermi, e sempre più soli. Da questa esperienza comune di spaesamento, paura, solitudine di fronte al dolore, portata ancor più a fior di pelle dalla pandemia, parte Michael Ign...

Poring over his grandparents' memoirs, grainy photographs of his distinguished ancestors and relating family lore passed from father to son, Michael Ignatieff begins a moving journey to come to terms with his inheritance that is bound up with the violent tumult of Russian history.With great care and complexity, Ignatieff reconstructs a vanished way of life. Beginning in the opulent court of Catherine the Great, he traces his family's rise to great influence in the imperial regime o...