Bertrand Russell: A Life

by Caroline Moorehead

A definitive biography of one of the century's most brilliant and controversial figures uses unpublished letters and papers and new interviews to present a compelling portrait of the passionate, dedicated, and maddeningly inconsistent Nobel Prize-winning philosopher.

Genres: Biography, Philosophy, History

608 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Caroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France; A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France; and Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer, Moorehead has also written for the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.

Reviews

[Clif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bertrand Russell was an interesting fellow, a top-notch intellectual with a gift for explaining difficult concepts to the public. A British Issac Asimov, you might say.

His personal life was exceptionally tempestuous because he was always looking for a sexual conquest, whether he was married or not. He was well known for promoting freedom for both individuals in a relationship, yet his experience shows how human emotion takes the lead over rational thought.

He wrote a great number of books, most of them popular, and he took part in several social movements. He strongly opposed WW1 and, initially, WW2, but never claimed that he was a pacifist, seeing war as sometimes necessary. The account of those who stood up against conscription during WW1 (with Russell staunchly behind them) is one of the better sections of this book.

Never one to see the future optimistically, he commonly predicted a short time to come for mankind and was particularly opposed to the development of nuclear weapons.

Married four times, only his last relationship proved stable. This book is sympathetic to Russell, as you would expect, but it is difficult to take the treatment he gave his first wife in particular. All of his wives, with one exception, and other women as well were devoted to him. Once the appeal of a woman had faded, he wasn't hesitant to not only make it known to her, but to also inform her of his pursuit and success with someone else. This matter of fact manner indicates no understanding of human emotion, no matter how advanced his thoughts were on philosophy.

Hobnobbing with the rich and famous of Britain, Russell became close to well-known people such as Wittgenstein, Conrad, Wolff, T.S. Elliot and many more. A great conversationalist, he was sought out by the hosts and hostesses of parties for the literati.

With all this, the material for a good book is present. While I enjoyed reading this biography, it comes off as somewhat cold. Though Russell's philosophical outlook is briefly discussed at certain points, it is only in passing. He goes through emotional ups and downs but I'm left with the feeling that he didn't concern himself too much with his effect on others. Of course he loved being popular with his readers but he seems removed from those most close to him.

His attempts to come on to almost any attractive woman, though successful more often then not, reveal him to be driven by an urge, an insecurity beneath the intellect he promoted as the greatest possession we have.

This book is very readable, tells a good story, but is not the engrossing examination of the man I would like to have read. It's loaded with who thought what about whom, which gets tiresome but is, admittedly, a big part of what life is to most people.

[Dozy Pilchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moorhead has produced a book of great quality. Russell's life is well presented in this biography and it makes a good companion to Russell's own accounts in his autobiography. Refreshing to read a woman's view on Russell's life's work.

[John Clements · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book; it's fascinating to see the contrast between the external persona and the internal strife. I should add that I'm a huge fan of Russell's writing, and I'm currently enjoying his history of Western Philosophy.

[Lelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I’m not particularly interested in politics, I picked this book up because I’d enjoyed Caroline Moorehead’s biography of Martha Gellhorn. This book fell short, however, not because of its political engagement, but because of the excessively detailed descriptions of Russell’s famous friends. There were many, including Wittgenstien, “the Bloomsberries”, Ottoline Morrell, D.H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, T.S. Eliot and Joseph Conrad. I’m intrigued by all of these people, so I expected their interactions to have some magic in them, but the relationships typically follow a pattern of fast friendship devolving into disagreement and ending in acrimony — a pattern that seems to have been as tedious for Moorehead to write about and it was for me to read.

It’s clear that relationships were of primary importance in Russell’s life, offering him opportunities for the feedback and collaboration that contributed to his life’s work and his personal development. But the details included are not particularly compelling. The epigraph Moorehead chose comes from a letter Russell wrote to Ottoline Morrell. He says, “I do not know who my biographer may be, but I should like him to report ‘with what flourish his nature will’ something like this:... I loved life and real people, and wished to get rid of the shams that prevent us from loving real people as they really are. I believed in laughter and spontaneity, and trusted to nature to bring out the genuine good in people, if once genuineness could come to be tolerated.” This is a Bertrand Russell who seems worth getting to know, but it wasn't the Bertrand Russell I found in Moorehead’s biography.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly detailed, this book provides great insight into the livelihood of one of the great philosophers and mathematicians of the twentieth century. At times, however, it can be a little tedious to read. Although, it is a good book, it is quite time consuming to read, and I probably would not recommend it unless someone is particularly interested in Russell.