Bertrand Russell

Spokesman Books | Bertrand Russell

<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Bertrand Russell</span>

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell books published by Spokesman Books the imprint of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, which began in 1963.

Spokesman has published new editions of two short stories by Bertrand Russell which first appeared in the 1950s. We have also reprinted Roads to Freedom, Icarus and the Future of Science and German Social Democracy.

Here they are listed here for you to browse and buy.

<span style='font-size: 14px;'>A Pacifist at War</span>A Pacifist at War
Letters and Writings 1914-1918
By Bertrand Russell
Edited by Nicholas Griffin

‘The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 dramatically changed almost everything in Bertrand Russell's life. It was the War that made him a public figure and ensured that henceforth philosophy would only occasionally prevail over politics for his attention ... Unlike so many who went enthusiastically to war in the summer of 1914, Russell knew the War would be a disaster. Nor did he share the general British opinion that Germany was entirely responsible. He thought the secret diplomacy of the Liberal administration under Sir Edward Grey, which had entangled Britain in a series of alliances to defend continental countries against aggression, shared a good deal of the responsibility. He had, moreover, no doubts at all that it was his public duty to oppose the War ... The War made him a popular figure among pacifists and those on the Left who were opposed to it, but it made him persona non grata with the Government, including many of his erstwhile allies in the Liberal establishment (though not with his lover, Ottoline Morrell and her husband, who remained staunchly supportive of the pacifists). The costs to Russell of opposing the War were high. The government fined him, confiscated his passport, placed him under surveillance, banned him from certain parts of the country, and eventually jailed him. He was viciously attacked in print and in person and, on at least one occasion, physically assaulted. He lost his job at Cambridge, his academic career, and many of his former friends. During the War he was dependent on his brother for providing him a place to live and when it ended he was broke, jobless, and exhausted. None of this caused him to waver for a moment in his unrelenting opposition.'

Nicholas Griffin
McMaster University, Canada

Reviews:
'The introduction to the book as a whole, and particularly to individual letters, is very fine, as to be expected from its editor, Nicholas Griffin (editor of Russell's collected papers of the period). The choice of his writings (as distinct from letters) could not be bettered in the space given to them; readers might have preferred these to have been expanded at the cost of fewer of his letters. However, these provide a fascinating insight both into his emotional life and entanglements of the period, and to his participation in the anti-war struggle. His fascinated and fascinating encounters with D.H.Lawrence are particularly well illustrated. As a whole, the collection is a much needed extension to his Autobiography, and as the only reasonably priced way into the vast treasury of his papers of the period, is a must for his admirers, and an education for our time.'
Chris Bratcher


Price: £9.99

218 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 8370


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Unarmed Victory</span>Unarmed Victory
The Cuban Missile Crisis Fifty Years On
By Bertrand Russell

The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962, more than any previous crisis, made the ordinary citizen suddenly aware of the ever-present danger of nuclear annihilation, and no sooner had the fright passed than it was renewed on the borders of India and China. Bertrand Russell shared these feelings, both the fright and the anger, but decided he must go on to turn concern into action. This book tells what he did in those frightening weeks, why he did it, and of the curious reception his activities had.

He asked Khrushchev not to challenge the US blockade of Cuba and Khrushchev acted as Russell had suggested that he should. This was exactly the action that the West had hoped for, but most people in the West still blamed Russell as too pro-communist because it was not by force that the result had been achieved. The same occurred in the Sino-Indian crisis. So the book contains a message of hope. Two precedents have been set for dignified and voluntary compromise in order to avoid nuclear war, and moreover the suggestions of a respected individual outside the battle were heeded. If we want a parallel we must look back to the thirteenth century, when Frederic II was quarrelling with the Pope and was ex-communicated. While ex-communicated he went on a crusade, but instead of fighting the Saracens, he negotiated with them. He secured far more than more warlike crusaders had ever been able to obtain, but he remained in bad odour with the Pope because it was wicked to negotiate with the Saracens. The analogy is very close.

Reviews
David Sinclair - Tribune, May 2012


Price: £8.95

156 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 8028


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Roads to Freedom</span>Roads to Freedom
By Bertrand Russell

"This book was written to give an account of Socialism, Anarchism, and Syndicalism. It was completed in the early months of 1918 and before the end of the First World War was imaginable. The prospect of peace seemed remote. So much has happened since that time … and the solutions, urgent problems and immediate hopes are no longer what they were in 1918. But the problem of preserving as much liberty as possible under Socialism is even more urgent now than then, and the greater part of what is said on this problem in this book still seems to me valid."

Bertrand Russell, from his 1948 preface.

Price: £9.99

158 pages | Indexed
ISBN: 978 0 85124 7144
Paperback


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Justice in War-Time</span>Justice in War-Time
By Bertrand Russell

Here is Russell’s brilliant commentary on the barbarism of trench warfare, and his horror at the blind, patriotic enthusiasm of his contemporaries who sent a whole generation to their death. Russell also raises a number of enduring questions on war and peace. How are wars made popular? When are they justified? Should diplomacy be secret? What should be the role of intellectuals? Must nation states endure? Can civilization survive?

Price: £14.99

250 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 7052


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Icarus or The Future of Science</span>Icarus or The Future of Science
By Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell wrote Icarus or The Future of Science in 1923 as a reply to J. B. S. Haldane’s Daedalus. Within Daedalus Haldane imagined a world in which humans controlled their own evolution. In direct response to this Russell published Icarus or The Future of Science in which he argues that such power would ultimately be used not for idealistic ends but to strengthen the power of dominant groups.

Price: £5.00

64 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 6963


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>The Life of Bertrand Russell</span>The Life of Bertrand Russell
in pictures and his own words
Compiled by Christopher Farley and David Hodgson

This beautiful record of Russell's life from his birth in 1872 to his death in 1970, has been reprinted for a new generation of Russell enthusiasts. Images of Russell, his parents, his surroundings in Wales, Richmond, Cambridge and the United States, his wives, children, and achievements are mixed with the narratives of his life related in his own words.

Price: £8.95

95 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 6802


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Has Man a Future?</span>Has Man a Future?
By Bertand Russell

Man has been on this planet for one million years, and in that time has come a long way. He could achieve great things in the next million. What are his prospects if he can manage to survive the present danger of universal destruction? After posing this question, Bertrand Russell examines this danger in its most urgent form: the development of nuclear weapons and the hypocrisy of official attitudes to them.

Price: £7.99

134 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 81524 6368


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Let the People Think</span>Let the People Think
By Bertrand Russell

In this selection of his essays, first published in 1941, sparkling wit and crystal clarity combine with a profundity and deep humanity that single him out as on of the world's mist formative thinkers. He offers his thoughts on the value of scepticism, free thought and propaganda, fascism, youthful cynicism, insects and comets.

Price: £9.99

120 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 6772


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>German Social Democracy</span>German Social Democracy
By Bertrand Russell

Originally published in 1896, this was Bertrand Russell's first book. Its purpose then was to provide a convenient introduction to German Social Democracy - its history, its goals, its tactics, and the influence upon it of such thinkers as Marx, Engels, and Lassalle.

German Social Democracy is a vital document for students of European history, and for all those who read and admire the works of Bertrand Russell.

Price: £11.99

184 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 5713


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>German Social Democracy</span>German Social Democracy
By Bertrand Russell

Price: £35.00

184 pages | Hardback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 5706


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Satan in the Suburbs</span>Satan in the Suburbs
By Bertrand Russell

"The title story was in part suggested to me by a stranger whom I met in Mortlake and who, when he saw me, crossed the road and made the sign of the Cross as he went." Bertrand Russell in his Autobiography

Price: £7.99

144 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 6284


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Nightmares of Eminent Persons</span>Nightmares of Eminent Persons
By Bertrand Russell

"This was intended to illustrate the secret fears which beset the Great while they sleep."

"The writing of these stories was a great release of my hitherto unexpressed feelings and of thoughts which could not be stated without mention of fears that had no rational basis... In this way it was possible to warn of dangers which might or might not occur in the near future." Bertrand Russell

Price: £7.99

150 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 85124 6291


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<span style='font-size: 14px;'>Practice and Theory of Bolshevism</span>Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
By Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell's Practice and Theory of Bolshevism is a first-hand account of the great British philosopher's journey to Russian in 1920. It is a classic and enduring analysis of communism in practice, and a careful polemic with Communist ideology. But more than this, it is a portrait of the turbulent infancy of the Soviet Republic, and a report on Russell's meeting with such great historic figures as Lenin, Trotsky, and Gorky.

Price: £7.99

134 pages | Paperback
ISBN: 978 085124 5416


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Spokesman Books | Bertrand Russell