text: This book ranks along side Will Durant's "Story of Philosophy" as the best book on Western Philosophy. The key difference is that whereas Durant deals only with some selected individuals, Russell gives a comprehensive history. Topics that get the short shrift in most histories (Pre-Socratics, Medieval Philosophy, etc) are given the full treatment here.
  
  'HoWP' has an authority that few can match. Russell was a great philosopher himself - no history of Western Philosophy is complete without a chapter on him!
  
  The book is strewn with gems of wisdom:
  1. "The union of idealism and love of power has led men astray throughout history, and continues to do so even today." (On Sparta)
  2. "Religions that condemn the pleasures of the senses drive men towards the pleasures of power. Throughout history, power has been the vice of the ascetic." (On the clergy in the Middle Ages)
  3. "Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race." (On Continental Idealists)
  
  At times the book does get a little dense. There is only so far Russell is willing to go to make the subject accessible to the lay reader.
  
  I would especially recommend this book for history buffs. Russell dovetails the development of Western Philosophy beautifully with European history. There is no better way to develop interest in a subject than to read a book that connects it with a subject you are already passionate about
  