The philosopher Frederick Copleston, writing in A History of Philosophy (1946–75), described Russell's book as "unusually lively and entertaining", but added that Russell's "treatment of a number of important philosophers is both inadequate and misleading. Russell is consistently opinionated throughout his presentation and it might confuse some of the readers that he is so casual in writing off some of the major philosophers and their key ideas.

As a historian, he is using at least three hats as: mathematician, English citizen and philosopher himself. What is best about this book is that it has inspired me to read some more Plato (I started his complete dialogues some time ago, but things got in the way.

Desde logo, os racionalistas assumem que tudo tem de ter uma lógica, que tudo tem de ter uma causa, que o conhecimento se constrói à imagem de uma equação matemática que tudo pode explicar. On top of this, he has a delightfully dry sense of humor, which he employs to great effect in breaking up turgid analysis.

What he was trying to do was to firmly situate major thinkers in their historical and cultural context, and then explore the ways that history both shapes and is shaped by these thinkers. Apesar de sabermos que temos de colocar algum travão nas impressões imediata, já que Russell não se coíbe nunca de ser crítico, mesmo quando está a falar de milhares de anos atrás, em contextos sociais completamente opostos àquele em que hoje vivemos. It is not hard to see how these philosophical tendencies, combined with Rousseau's notions of the 'general will' and 'the Sovereign state', would lead to the ideology of Nationalism and hence to totalitarianism.

Re-reading it with the perspective of a lifetime's experience of political, ethical and religious developments has proved fascinating. For what this book sets out to do – pretty much, give the average reader an overview of Western Philosophical thought and its place within Western Culture and History, it does a remarkable job.

Full title A History of Western Philosophy And Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day – the indefinite article was deleted in the British editions.Providing a sophisticated overview of the ideas that have perplexed people from time immemorial, it is 'long on wit, intelligence and curmudgeonly scepticism', as the New York Times noted, and it is this, coupled with the sheer brilliance of its scholarship, that has made Russell's History of Western Philosophy one of the most important philosophical works of all time.