PoliticalIdeasintheRomanticAge:TheirRiseandInfluenceonModernThought

'Iwasexhaustedattheend,&yetIamsurethatifeverIsaw&heardanyoneinatruestateofinspirationitwasthen.'SowroteIsaiahBerlin'ssecretaryLeliaBrodersentoafriendin1952,afterhearingoneofBerlin'sMaryFlexnerLecturesatBrynMawrCollege,Pennsylvania.PoliticalIdeasintheRomanticAge,writteninpreparationfortheselectures,washeavilyrevisedbyBerlinafterwards,thoughheneverbroughtittofinalpublishedform.Butitisaworkofthegreatestinterest,bothforwhatBerlinsaysabouthissubjectandforwhatittellsusabouthisownintellectualdevelopment.Itistheonlytextheeverwroteinwhichhelaidoutinoneconnectedaccountmostofhiskeyinsightsaboutthehistoryofideasintheperiodwhichhemadehisown-the'romanticage':thebridgebetweentheeighteenthandninetheenthcenturies.ThisisalsotheminefromwhichBerlinquarriedmanyofhiswell-knownlaterpublications,including'TwoConceptsofLiberty','HistoricalInevitability'andhisessaysonVicoandHerder;thecontinuitiesandchangesthatappearwhentheearlierandlaterversionsofhisideasarecomparedthrownewlightonhisthought.WritteninBerlin'scharacteristicallyaccessiblestyle,thebookalsocontainsmuchthatisnottobefoundelsewhereinhiswritings.Itisadistillateofhisformativeearlyworkinthehistoryofideas,andthelongestcontinuoustextheeverwrote.TheoftenproblematicscriptleftbyBerlinhasbeeneditedforpublicationbyHenryHardy.JoshuaChernisscontributesanintroductionsettingtheworkinitscontextinBerlin'slifeandwork,andabibliographyofrelatedworksbyBerlinandothers.