"Thoroughly brilliant, often thrilling and yet always accessible."
Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Exhilaratingly thought-provoking."
The Times (London) "Berlin at his best: quick-minded, erudite, witty and profound, and, above all, exciting. To read this book is to feel the force of living thought coming white-hot from the forge of a superb mind."
John Banville, The Irish Times "Here is Berlin doing what everyone said ... Read morehe did best: talk... Berlin remains the tactful guest, discerning liberalism, toleration, decency and the appreciation of the imperfections of life also among the romantic movement's legacies... Berlin liked to remind people that when they most believe they know where they are going, that is when they are likeliest to be wrong."
Colin Walters, The Washington Times "A fascinating intellectual history... Berlin partakes in a kind of victory celebration, an often breathless study of the movement that ended the hegemony of the rationalist tradition."
Douglas A. Sylva, New York Times Book Review "A superlatively readable and absorbing primer... As Berlin unfolds [Romanticism's] development, politics and art as we know them become more comprehensible than ever before."
Booklist "The lecture pace of this volume makes it an excellent resource for both beginning researcher and seasoned scholar."
Library Journal "[A] supremely intelligent and illuminating little book... [A] marvelous example of Berlin doing what he did best
the judiciously poised and open-minded elucidation of 18th- and 19th-century philosophy... In an era where humane intellectual discourse has been deconstructed, intertextualised, phallicised and generally kicked senseless, Berlin's writing shines like a beacon."
Rupert Christiansen, The Spectator "With The Roots of Romanticism ... we get another instalment of scintillating, elusive, paradoxical thought... [T]his is a welcome addition to Berlin's ever-growing oeuvre."
Ben Rogers, Financial Times "This small volume provides the distilled essence of Berlin and it provides wonderful examples of his technique: vast sentences in which a succession of parallel phrases draws out the meaning, inch by inch, and ends with a perfect rendering of the original clause upon which the reader has been left dangling for half a page, believing himself hopelessly lost. The experience is like waiting for an organist to resolve a mighty but elusive chord."
Anthony Smith, The Observer "This is a book that would be as salutary a read for prime ministers and presidents as for those who see themselves as cultural critics. Berlin's writing exemplifies the need for understanding and tolerance in the face of the plurality of human needs and aspirations, and the incompatibility of human ideals."
Peter Mudford, The Times Higher Education Supplement Show Less