Reviews

”These are handsome, sturdy paperbacks. They are very good value indeed. Routledge … published many of the key texts of the 20th century, and the house now has a treasure-trove of titles in its backlist … the list is not endless, but it is awesome … and we must be grateful to Routledge for putting them back into general circulation. Just when it seemed that the great days of publishing were over, along comes this batch of masterpieces to disprove one’s gloomiest presentiments.”
— John Banville, Irish Times

“A really fascinating and valuable series.”
— Noam Chomsky

“A stellar list.”
— George Steiner

“It’s a remarkable series. These are the books that helped shaped the intellectual life of the 20th century.”
— Al Alvarez

“Well designed and printed, and very good value at the price. It’s a series that deserves to prosper.”
— Mantex

“Beautifully designed paperbacks for a tenner or less a throw.”
— Steven Poole, Guardian

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: “Beautifully strange.”
— Guardian

Totem and Taboo: “Superbly readable.”
— Guardian

Leonardo da Vinci: “Bizarre … we can shudder with gruesome delight at witnessing the original sin of modern biography, as Freud gleefully psychoanalyses the poor artist’s childhood and diagnoses repressed homosexuality.”
— Guardian

Leonardo Da Vinci: “A remarkable exercise in artisitic detective work and a genuine celebration of the human being’s capacity to endure and survive the deepest spiritual wounds.”
— John Banville, Irish Times

The Protestant Ethic: “Ought to be a set text for the No Logo fan club.”
— Guardian

Understanding Media: “Much imitated but never bettered.”
— Guardian

Relativity: “[Einstein] is a far better populariser of science than Stephen Hawking … When, prepared by Einstein’s elegant and witty prose, you foresee his equations coalescing into the celebrated formula “e=mc2”, you’ll feel as though you have a ringside seat at a revolution in human understanding.”
— Guardian

Relativity: “Much of the book is a delight.”
— New Scientist

Understanding Media: “Get in touch with the old master in Understanding Media, part of a new classics series from Routledge.”
— New Scientist

What is Literature?: “A robust and bracing read”
— Mantex

Shakespeare’s Bawdy: “A glossary of smut, indecency and suggestiveness … a marvelous compilation of Shakespeare’s linguistic inventiveness … a joy to read … this is a handsomely produced book.”
— Mantex

Wickedness: “Midgley is one of the most acute and penetrating voices in current moral philosophy … to follow her reasoning through these beautifully crafted pages is like watching a ballet dancer walking in the street: there is a litheness, a gracefulness, an ease of articulation, which attests to years of learning lightly worn.”
— John Banville, Irish Times

The French Revolution: “Probably the greatest study ever written of the earthquake of 1789 and its aftermath.”
— John Banville, Irish Times