New York: Basic Books (HarperCollins), 2013. First edition - A collection of essays originally written between 1956 and 2006 by "one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. A prominent anticommunist writer, Kolakowski was also a deeply humanistic thinker, and his meditations on society, religion, morality, and culture stand alongside his political writings as commentaries on intellectualand everydaylife in the twentieth century.. . Accessible and wide ranging, these essays - many of them translated into English for the first time - testify to the remarkable scope of Kolakowskis work. From a provocative and deeply felt critique of Marxist ideology to the witty and self-effacing In Praise of Unpunctuality and more - His essay (censored by the authorities and only available on the underground) on "What is socialism" is a long list of what it is not and ends with "socialism is just a really wonderful thing." Introduction and translations by Agnieszka Kolakowski. First-time publication details. 327 pp.