The century of the American War of Independence and the French
Revolution remains contemporary 200 years later because the
fundamental questions raised then about politics still speak to us.
The writings of Edmund Burke on these and other political events of
his time are today acknowledged as the basis of modern conservative
thought. This volume brings together an outstanding collection of
interpretative essays on Burke, and serves as a basic introduction
to this seminal thinker.
A member of the British Parliament from 1766 to 1794, Edmund
Burke had sympathized with the American War of Independence and
argued for reform of British policy towards Ireland and India, but
he surprised many of his friends by his early, vehement opposition
to the French Revolution. This volume brings together assessments
of these and other statements by Buke by contemporaries such as
Coleridge and William Hazlitt, along with essays by Irving Babbitt
and Russell Kirk, who established his significance for
twentieth-century conservatism. Influential dissents by Raymond
Williams and by Conor Cruise O'Brien demonstrate the continuing
appeal of Burke's descriptions of society and social change to
radical thinkers. Alexander Bickel and Harvey Mansfield offer
essays that explain the theory of party government (originated by
Burke) and its continuing relevance, while a young scholar, Steven
Blakemore, applies Burke's critique of revolutionary language to
deconstruction. Together, these essays reveal many of the enduring
themes and inner tensions of current conservatism: empirical
analysis and natural law, a process of change that preserves while
it reforms, and a dual emphasis on practical politics and its place
in the divine, cosmic order.
Although many books have been written on Burke, there is no
single volume of biography or criticism that is essential to those
who wish to study him, nor has there been, until now, a collection
of the best, previously published interpretive essays on Burke.
This volume fills this need, and will be of interest to all those
interested in the philosophical roots of conservatism, in the
history of political thought, in revolution, and in modern
political ideologies.
General
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