From the pages of this book sounds a voice of rare purity and dignity. Involving in moral reasoning and historical excursions, he is most busy commenting on the 20th century, which he called the worst known. A philosopher and historian, Isaiah Berlin was neither a hero nor a martyr. A Russian Jew who was born in Riga in 1909 and lived the revolution in Petrograd had every chance of ending his days in the camp or at the front. Having survived millions of his fellow countrymen and peers, Sir Isaiah Berlin died in 1997, endowed with British titles and world fame. His best essays are published in this volume.