Bertrand Russell remains one of the greatest philosophers and most complex and controversial figures of the twentieth century.

Born in Wales in 1872, the son of John and Kate Amberley and the grandson of Lord John Russell, later first Earl Russell and twice British Prime Minister, Bertrand Russell studied mathematics and moral sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1903, at the age of 31, he published his first book, Principles of Mathematics. In 1916, he lost his lectureship at Trinity College after refusing to pay a fine for writing an anti-conscription leaflet. Two years later he was imprisoned for six months for writing an anti-war article and whilst incarcerated he wrote Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy and Analysis of Mind. In 1927, he established the experimental Beacon Hill School with his second wife Dora Black. Between 1945 and 1950, he published his masterpiece A History of Western Philosophy, delivered the first Reith Lecture (Authority and the Individual) and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. From 1958 to 1961 he was President of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Committee of 100, resulting in his being sentenced for inciting civil disobedience. He died in Wales in 1970.

This new edition of his Autobiography, published in one paperback volume and introduced by Michael Foot, charts the remarkable life of a remarkable man, in the lucid and honest style characteristic of all his other writings.