J. L. Austin

Scrupulous and engrossing * Best Books of the Year 2023, The Economist *
A revelatory work of intelligence history, ingeniously built from scattered and skimpy materials. * Richard Davenport-Hines, Books of the Year 2023, Times Literary Supplement *
A superb biography…dense and readable. * Tom Stoppard, Books of the Year 2023, Times Literary Supplement *
Meticulously researched yet uncluttered … philosophically illuminating. * Jane O’Grady, Times Literary Supplement *
[ Rowe’s] research is so thorough, his exposition so meticulous and his presentation so clear that even the digressions are a delight * Jonathan Ree, Literary Review *
a marvellous book … thoroughly absorbing… First, it gives a detailed account of Austin’s philosophical development, his background, his works and his academic career and influence, accompanied at each stage by interpretations and criticisms that are judicious and insightful. Rowe shows himself to be an excellent philosopher in his own right. Second, the book presents the results of Rowe’s painstaking archival research on Austin’s intelligence career, placing it in the context of British and Allied intelligence concerning Western Europe and North Africa. It gives a fascinating account of the way military intelligence is generated and the crucial role it plays in every military operation… Third, Rowe offers a perceptive analysis of Austin’s personal qualities and their part in his academic and military engagements. * Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books *
well-researched, and admirably written intellectual biography. * Stephen Mulhall, Society *
This is a magnificent biography, balanced, comprehensive, and meticulously researched. It reconstructs the life of a scholar whose analyses helped shape mid-twentieth-century British philosophy; and it traces the work of an intelligence officer whose analyses helped save tens of thousands of lives. * SANDER VERHAEGH, Tilburg University *
M. W. Rowe’s compendious biography of J. L. Austin (1911-60), at least a decade in the making, can justifiably be described as long-awaited. Its more than 600 pages contain more than enough in the way of fact and interpretation to vindicate handsomely the time and labour that have gone into it. The book contains a wealth of biographical detail, extended quotations from correspondence and archival material that are not widely known and efficient synopses of Austin’s philosophical writings. These elements alone render the book indispensable to any philosopher or historian interested in Austin’s life, his times and, of course, his philosophical themes - among other things, perception, the theory of ‘speech acts’ and the role of language in philosophy. * NIKHIL KRISHNAN, MIND *
Rowe has written a superb historical and intellectual biographyof Austin. It is a marvellous achievement, and everyone should read the book. * Alex Moran, Université de Fribourg *
This is a terrific, massively impressive work. The text is an extremely well-judged and exhaustively detailed (potentially exhaustingly detailed for some readers) treatment of Austin’s philosophical and military contributions. I recommend J.L. Austin in the highest possible terms. * Robert J. Stainton, Philosophy in Review *

M. W. Rowe is an Honorary Researcher in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia (UEA). He was educated at Cranbrook School and Cambridge and York Universities. He was formerly Head of English at Pocklington School, Yorkshire, Lecturer in Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London, and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at UEA. He is particularly interested in military history, linguistic philosophy, classical music, nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, and the intersections between philosophy and literature. In addition to his work on J. L. Austin, he is currently supervising a recording of the complete works of Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1812-65).

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