In this outstanding collection of essays, Isaiah Berlin, one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, discusses the importance of dissenters in the history of ideas--among them Machiavelli, Vico, Montesquieu, Herzen, and Sorel. With his unusual powers of imaginative re-creation, Berlin brings to life original minds that swam against the current of their times--and still challenge conventional wisdom. In a new foreword to this corrected edition, which also includes a new appendix of letters in which Berlin discusses and further illuminates some of its topics, noted essayist Mark Lilla argues that Berlin's decision to give up a philosophy fellowship and become a historian of ideas represented not an abandonment of philosophy but a decision to do philosophy by other, perhaps better, means. "His instinct told him," Lilla writes, "that you learn more about an idea as an idea when you know something about its genesis and understand why certain people found it compelling and were spurred to action by it." This collection of fascinating intellectual portraits is a rich demonstration of that belief.

A remembrance of one of America's greatest modern authors by his last secretary.

Against the Current is an oblique look at travelling through France on a boat by two people with no experience or qualifications, with imaginative asides and whimsies. Would you leave your job, sell your house, abandon your family and friends and move half way round the world to live on a boat? With no income, and no idea what the next day would bring? Probably not. But that’s what Mike and Liz did, choosing to cast off from corporate life to live on and travel the waterways of France. They’re boarded by armed police, nearly lose their boat, and pull a near-drowned body from the water. With a blade against his neck, Mike’s fate rests on a soccer game, and he and Liz accuse a Frenchman of not knowing how to soil a bat. This is their adventure, a book for anyone who’s ever thought they might like to just get away from it all, throw caution to the wind and see what tomorrow feels like. It will take you to the limits, bring you down to earth, but most of all it will make you laugh out loud. Join Mike and Liz, as they go sailing on a notion. Against the Current is an engaging travel memoir that will appeal particularly to boat lovers. This is a book for anyone who’s ever thought they might like to just get away from it all, throw caution to the wind and see what tomorrow feels like. It will take you to the limits, bring you down to earth, but most of all it will make you laugh out loud.

The schools in Providence, Rhode Island, like those in most large and midsize cities, suffer alarming drop-out rates. In 1989, Urban Collaborative, an independent, public middle school for teenagers at risk of dropping out, was founded. The results have been phenomenal. More than 80 percent of the students go on to graduate from high school. Michael Brosnan uses the stories of the director, students, and teachers to explain how and why this school succeeds where so many have failed. It's founder and director, Rob DeBlois, quadriplegic since a diving accident when he was twenty-one, has had to face many challenges of his own, and the determination, enthusiasm, and ambition he brings to the Urban Collaborative are keys to its success. Rather than just detailing the woes of America's inner-city schools, this book offers new insights into the complexity of education reform and provides practical suggestions for ways our schools can be transformed.

The premise: You take two boys who meet at age 12 and then show their relationship 25 years later. One has his promise taken from him by the controlling influence of first, the bully, and later, the grand manipulator. What begins as a story of constant abuse and the struggle to break free, turns into a psychological suspense thriller, as not all is what it seems. The victim is in some ways as calculating as the bully, and willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. The power hungry manipulator will stop at nothing to keep his power, and to keep his golden ticket from rising up against him. One moment of bravery becomes the catalyst that ignites the war of attrition. With the help of a kindred spirit, the victim realizes that to break free from the tyranny of oppression, the bully has to be thoroughly stopped. A chess match of deathly proportions ensues within a thirty-six hour period that leaves several people dead and the two men facing each other in a classic battle of, "to the death." Against the Current answers the question of what happens if the bully is still in your life after twenty-five years and you've been pushed hard enough to fight back. The characters are rich and believable, true to themselves. The setting is a mid-sized Iowa town. Evil comes in many forms and wears many faces. Against the Current explores the evil behind the need to manipulate others, and the inner strength of goodness that compels some of us to stand up to that evil.

In the summer of 1900,Thomas Cunningham begins work on a device that will harvest the inexhaustible energy found in magnetic fields. At the same time, the largest oil company in the U.S. implements its plan to monopolize energy and will stop at nothing to prevent the emergence of this new technology. This is a story of discovery, intrigue, murder and the dogged perseverance of a family that chooses to go AGAINST THE CURRENT.

In 1981 Chile's military government dictated a new Water Code that radically changed the country's previous water rights system by strengthening private property rights, favoring market incentives, and reducing state regulation. Against the Current: Privatization, Water Markets, and the State in Chile is the first empirical and interdisciplinary study of water markets in Chile, which is the leading international example of free market water policies. Against the Current: Privatization, Water Markets, and the State in Chile challenges the glowing reports given by neoliberals in Chile and the World Bank, showing that the results of this economic experiment have actually been rather mixed. Within the agricultural sector the Water Code has worked fairly well, although the market incentives to conserve water have been ineffective and water rights trading has been less active than expected. The Code's impact has been more negative at the level of river basins, where the institutional framework has revealed critical flaws in coordinating multiple water users and resolving conflicts. Against the Current: Privatization, Water Markets, and the State in Chile combines law, political economy, and geography to analyze the disadvantages, problems, and wider contexts of water markets. This book will appeal to everyone interested in property rights, market-friendly environmental policies, the political economy of sustainable development, and the intersection of economics with law and institutions.

Re-catalogued Oct04. Table of contents: Part I Studies & travel; Part II Early political writings; Part III On nationalism; Part IV On the constitution; Part V From 1968 to 1984; Part VI Einstein and Ralston prize lectures.

Against the Current is a wonderful account of how grit, grace, and intelligence can overcome significant disability.