Ernest Gellner: An Intellectual Biography Hardcover - 2010

Media reviews

“Gellner has been brought back to life—alongside his combative ideas and his maverick approach to intellectual combat—in a sympathetic but by no means reverential biography by his former pupil John A. Hall.”—Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal

“The cumulative effect is monumental—and a monument does seem overdue.”—Scott McLemee, National

“Few books have more successfully combined the study of personal life and intellectual development in the turbulent setting of the 20th century.”—Eric Hobsbawm, Observer

“John A. Hall concludes his account of Ernest Gellner by observing that his outlook on the world was austere. “But therein lies its attraction,” he goes on. “Not much real comfort for our woes is on offer; the consolations peddled in the market are indeed worthless. What Gellner offered was something more mature and demanding: cold intellectual honesty.” Brief personal impressions are rarely conclusive, especially when recalled after many years; but that Gellner was an exceptionally honest thinker is beyond reasonable doubt.”—John Gray, New Republic

“Outstanding”—Stefan Collini, London Review of Books