Reflections on the Revolution in France (World's Classics) - Softcover

Burke, Edmund

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192818449 ISBN 13: 9780192818447

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1993

Synopsis

Edmund Burke was the dominant political thinker of the last quarter of the 18th century in England. His reputation depends less on his role as a practising politician than on his ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of political theory. Above all, he commented on change. He tried to teach lessons about how change should be managed, what limits should not be transgressed, and what should be reverently preserved. Burke's generation was much in need of advice on these matters. The Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, and catastrophically, the French Revolution presented challenges of terrible proportions. They could promise paradise or threaten anarchy. Burke was acutely aware of how high the stakes were. The "Reflections on the Revolution in France" was a dire warning of the consequences that would follow the mismanagement of change.

About this title

Review

"Providing a fresh perspective on a much-studied classic, Clark's edition is both innovative and informative. The first modern edition to reprint the text of the first edition of the Reflections, it brings readers closer to the historic document. . . . This volume should become the starting point for serious study of the Reflections." (F. P. Lock Queen's University)

" . . . [Reflections on the Revolution in France] will help both the student and the advanced scholar to engage with one of the founding texts of modernity, as well as providing, in its own right, an interpretive contribution to Burke studies." (History of Political Thought)

About the Author

Edmund Burke (1729 - 97) was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1750 he entered the MIddle Temple in London but soon left law for literature. His Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and the Beautiful influenced many writers of the Romantic period. An MP in the Whig Party, he championed the cause of Catholic emancipation and was involved in the governing India.

Conor Cruise O'Brien is Emeritus Professor of the University of Dublin. In 1955 he was Counsellor in Paris and head of the United Nations section on Ireland from 1956 - 1960. He has been a professor at NYU, St Catherine's College, Oxford and at Dartmouth College in the USA. He has written on subjects including Ireland, Israel and the French Revolution.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192818449
• ISBN 13: 9780192818447
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350