"Ben Rogers provides a clear and accessible account of Ayer's philosophical writings and assesses their significance to twentieth-century philosophy." "Rogers also offers fascinating insights into the links between Ayer's philosophy and his life. He guides us through the young philosopher's troubled years at Eton, using Ayer's experience there to create an indelible portrait of England's upper classes during the twilight years of Victorian privilege. He takes us to Oxford, where Ayer astounded his tutors with his acumen and iconoclastic zeal, and where he befriended Isaiah Berlin, Ludwig Wittgenstein, e. e. cummings, and other great thinkers and writers of the era."--BOOK JACKET.