The key to human nature that Marx found in wealth and Freud in sex, Bertrand Rus
sell finds in power. Power, he argues, is man's ultimate goal, and is, in its ma
ny guises, the single most important element in the development of any society.
Writting in the late 1930s when Europe was being torn apart by extremist ideolog
ies and the world was on the brink of war, Russell set out to found a 'new scien
ce' to make sense of the traumatic events of the day and explain those that woul
d follow.
The result was Power, a remarkable book that Russell regarded as on
e of the most important of his long career. Countering the totalitarian desire t
o dominate, Russell shows how political enlightenment and human understanding ca
n lead to peace - his book is a passionate call for independence of mind and a c
elebration of the instinctive joy of human life.
