John Eidinow è l'autore di "Another Day", un avvincente romanzo che esplora amore, inganno e spionaggio nei primi mesi della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. In precedenza, ha co-scritto tre acclamati libri che hanno rievocato vividamente scontri drammatici tra intelletti formidabili. La sua vasta esperienza come presentatore e documentarista per BBC Radio 4 e World Service conferisce alla sua scrittura un occhio attento alle questioni storiche e contemporanee. Il lavoro di Eidinow offre costantemente narrazioni avvincenti incentrate su significative confrontazioni intellettuali e storiche.
Il primo e unico incontro tra Wittgenstein e Popper ebbe luogo il 25 ottobre 1946, al King's College di Cambridge. La sala era affollata, Bertrand Russell sedette in prima fila, accanto al caminetto, ma furono in molti a restare in piedi per ascoltare il giovane professore giunto dalla London School of Economics affrontare il tema della serata: "Esistono problemi filosofici?" Non sarebbe stato un normale dibattito accademico: a un certo punto Wittgenstein, presidente del Moral Science Club che ospitava l'incontro, avrebbe addirittura minacciato il rivale con un attizzatoio. In questo libro David Edmonds e John Eidinow hanno ricostruito meticolosamente gli eventi di quel giorno fatale.
The True Story of her Mission to Save Scholars from Hitler's Persecution
448pagine
16 ore di lettura
Many of the academic refugees Esther Simpson helped rescue are well remembered. But who was she and why has history forgotten her? This is the story of Esther Simpson, a woman whose dedication to the cause of freedom in science and learning left an indelible mark on the cultural and intellectual landscape of the modern world. Esther Simpson - Tess to her friends - devoted her life to resettling academic refugees, whom she thought of as her family. By the end of her life, Simpson could count among her 'children' sixteen Nobel Prize winners, eighteen Knights, seventy-four fellows of the Royal Society, thirty-four fellows of the British Academy. Her 'children' made a major contribution to Allied victory in World War Two. From a humble upbringing in Leeds to Russian immigrant parents, Simpson took on secretarial roles that saw her move to Paris, Vienna and Geneva. But when Hitler assumed power in 1933, she took a job in London at the Academic Assistance Council, newly set up to rescue displaced German scholars, and found her lifelong calling. For a woman who befriended so many and such eminent 'children', surprisingly little is known of her. This book is a study of Esther Simpson: who she was and how she lived, what moved her to take up and never to relinquish her calling, her impact on the world, and the historical context that helped shape her achievements.
