As Plutarch observed, Socrates ‘was the first person to demonstrate that life is open to philosophy at all times, in every part, among all kinds of people, and in every experience and activity.’

Spectacular … A delight to read.
-The Wall Street Journal

From bestselling biographer and historian Paul Johnson, a brilliant portrait of Socrates, the founding father of philosophy

In his highly acclaimed style, historian Paul Johnson masterfully disentangles centuries of scarce sources to offer a riveting account of Socrates, who is often hailed as the most important thinker of all time. Johnson provides a compelling picture of Athens in the fifth century BCE, and of the people Socrates reciprocally delighted in, as well as many enlightening and intimate analyses of specific aspects of his personality. Enchantingly portraying the sheer power of Socrates’s mind, and its unique combination of steel, subtlety, and frivolity, Paul Johnson captures the vast and intriguing life of a man who did nothing less than supply the basic apparatus of the human mind.