The Roots of Romanticism at last makes available in printed form Isaiah Berlin's most famous lecture series, the Mellon Lectures, delivered in Washington in 1965, recorded by the BBC, and broadcast several times. A published version has been keenly awaited ever since the lectures were given, and indeed Berlin had always hoped to complete a book based upon them. But, despite extensive further work, this hope was not fulfilled, and this book is an edited transcript of his spoken words. For Berlin, the Romantics set in train a vast unparalleled revolution in humanity's view of itself. They destroyed the traditional notions of objective truth and validity in ethics, with incalculable, all-pervasive results. As he said of them elsewhere: 'the world has never been the same since, and our politics and our morals have been deeply transformed by them. Certainly this has been the most radical, and indeed terrifying...change in men's outlook in modern times.' In these brilliant lectures Berlin surveys the myriad attempts to define Romanticism, distils its essence, traces its development from its first stirrings to its unbridled apotheosis, and shows how its lasting legacy permeates our contemporary outlook.

以赛亚·伯林（1909—1997） 英国哲学家和政治思想史家，二十世纪最著名的自由主义知识分子之一。出生于俄国里加的一个犹太人家庭，1920年随父母前往英国。1928年进入牛津大学攻读文学和哲学，1932年获选全灵学院研究员，并在新学院任哲学讲师，其间与艾耶尔、奥斯丁等参与了日常语言哲学的运动。二战期间，先后在纽约、华盛顿和莫斯科担任外交职务。1946年重回牛津教授哲学课程，并把研究方向转向思想史。1957年成为牛津大学社会与政治理论教授，并获封爵士。1966年至1975年，担任牛津大学沃尔夫森学院院长。主要著作有《卡尔·马克思》（1939）、《自由四论》（1969，后扩充为《自由论》）、《维柯与赫尔德》（1976）、《俄罗斯思想家》（1978）、《概念与范畴》（1978）、《反潮流》（1979）、《个人印象》（1980）、《扭曲的人性之材》（1990）、《现实感》（1997）等。