Ends and Beginnings

An autobiographical selection from the later parts of My Past and Thoughts, the memoirs of Herzen, whose vision of liberty is disturbingly relevant to our own times. This volume tells of his marriage to his cousin, and of his return to Moscow from exile in 1840 to take part in the ferment of discussions between Slavophiles and Westerners about Russia’s historical destiny.

This volume is the sequel to Childhood, Youth and Exile. Isaiah Berlin called these memoirs “an autobiography of the first order of genius…a major classic, comparable in scope with War and Peace.”