This book challenges the common view that Michael Oakeshott was mainly important as a political philosopher by offering the first comprehensive study of his ideas on history. It argues that Oakeshott's writings on the philosophy of history mark him out as the most successful of the philosophers who attempted to establish historical study as an autonomous form of thought during the twentieth century.

This volume brings together for the first time over a hundred of Oakeshott's essays and reviews, written between 1926 and 1951, that until now have remained scattered through a variety of scholarly journals, periodicals and newspapers. There is a new editorial introduction that explains how these pieces, including the lengthy essay on the philosophical nature of jurisprudence that occupies an important position in Oakeshott's work, illuminate his other published writings. The collection throws new light on the context of his thought by placing him in dialogue with a number of other major figures in the humanities and social sciences during this period, including Leo Strauss, A.N. Whitehead, Karl Mannheim, Herbert Butterfield, E.H. Carr, Gilbert Ryle, and R.G. Collingwood.

Oakeshott's memorable lectures on the history of political thought, delivered each year at the London School of Economics, are now available in print for the first time as Volume II of his "Selected Writings". Based on manuscripts in the LSE archive for 1966-67, the last year of Oakeshott's tenure as Professor of Political Science, these thirty lectures deal with Greek, Roman, mediaeval, and modern European political thought in a uniquely accessible manner. Scholars familiar with Oakeshott's work will recognize his own ideas subtly blended with an exposition carefully crafted for an undergraduate audience; those discovering Oakeshott for the first time will find an account of the subject that remains illuminating and provocative.

A highly readable new collection of almost thirty pieces by Michael Oakeshott, almost all of which are previously unpublished, covering every decade of his intellectual career. The essays were intended mostly for lectures or seminars and retain an informal style that makes them accessible to new readers as well as those already familiar with Oakeshott's work. The book will be indispensable for all Oakeshott's readers, no matter which area of his thought concerns them most.

This volume contains two previously unpublished works, a manuscript entitled 'A discussion of some matters preliminary to the study of political philosophy', and the first version of a course of lectures on 'The philosophical approach to politics' that Oakeshott gave between 1928 and 1930.

From the 1920s to the 1980s Oakeshott filled dozens of notebooks with his private reflections, both personal and intellectual. Their contents range from aphorisms to miniature essays, forming a unique record of his intellectual trajectory over his entire career. This volume makes them accessible in print for the first time, drawing together a host of his previously inaccessible observations on politics, philosophy, art, education, and much else besides. Religion in particular emerges as an ongoing concern for him in a way that is not visible from his published works.

The notebooks also provide a unique source of insight into Oakeshott's musings on life, thanks to the hitherto unsuspected existence of the series of 'Belle Dame notebooks that were written in the late 1920s and early 1930s but which only came to light two decades after his death. At the same period in which he was developing the concepts that would form Experience and its Modes, Oakeshott s personal life lead him to reflect extensively on love and death, themes that highlight his enduring romantic affinities.

Accompanied by an original editorial introduction, the volume allows readers to see for themselves exactly which works Oakeshott used in compiling each of his notebooks, providing a much clearer record of his intellectual influences than has previously been available. It will be an essential addition to the library of his works for all those interested in his ideas."