The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell Volume 26 covers a period of transition in Russell's political life between his orthodox and sometimes pugnacious defence of the West in the early post-war and the dissenting advocacy of nuclear disarmament and détente that started in earnest in the mid-1950s. While some of the assembled writings echo harsh prior criticism of Soviet expansionism and dictatorship others register growing qualms about the recklessness of American foreign policy and the baneful effects on civil liberties of anti-communist hysteria inside the United States. Whether continuing to push for western rearmament or highlighting in a more placatory vein the folly of the Cold War's divisions and rival fanaticisms Russell's paramount objective was avoiding a war that threatened global catastrophe. Suspended between fear and hope he expounded his evolving political concerns–and much else besides including autobiographical reflections and typically common-sense guidance for living well–in a constant flow of newspaper and magazine articles letters to editors radio broadcasts and discussions and of special note a Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Russell also completed two lecture tours of the United States (the last of many) as well as a landmark such visit to Australia. All three of these journeys and the textual record they left are examined in depth using manuscript material and unpublished correspondence from the Bertrand Russell Archives at Mc Master University which is mined extensively throughout the volume. |The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell Volume 26 Cold War Fears and Hopes 1950–52 | Philosophy