A History of Western Philosophy

Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, presents philosophy as part of social and political life, both shaped by and shaping the communities where each system took hold. His survey runs from the pre-Socratics to the early 20th century in three books: ancient philosophy, Catholic philosophy and modern philosophy. Each major division opens with the historical background, and most chapters treat a single thinker, school or period, from Pythagoras and Plato to Augustine, Aquinas, Hobbes, Kant, Nietzsche and William James. The last chapter sets out Russell's own philosophy of logical analysis. It grew from lectures at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and first appeared in 1945. It was among the books cited when Russell received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sam Harris chose it for his list of 12 books everyone should read, calling Russell one of the great philosophers of his era, an unusually clear thinker and writer, and a model of how English should be written.