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London Review of Books Christmas Books

The Central Questions subscriber-only content

Thomas Nagel

  • A Life of H.L.A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream by Nicola Lacey  Buy this book

When I finished this book I was left wondering why H.L.A. Hart hadn’t destroyed his diaries before he died. Perhaps modesty made him think that no one would want to write about him – he was not, in spite of his great distinction, world-famous like his friend Isaiah Berlin. But he certainly could have predicted that his widow Jenifer, whose indiscretion was well established, would do nothing to protect his privacy or her own.

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Thomas Nagel is University Professor at New York University. Concealment and Exposure and Other Essays is his most recent book.

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