Reflections on the Revolution in France (Rethinking the Western Tradition) - Hardcover

Burke, Edmund

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300099789 ISBN 13: 9780300099782

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2004

Synopsis

"Reflections on the Revolution in France" was written in 1790 and has remained in print ever since. Edmund Burke's analysis of revolutionary change established him as the chief framer of modern European conservative political thought. This new edition of the "Reflections" presents Burke's famous text along with a historical introduction by Frank Turner and four critical essays by leading scholars. The volume sets the "Reflections" in the context of Western political thought, highlights its ongoing relevance to contemporary debates, and provides abundant critical notes, a glossary and a glossary-index to ensure its accessibility. Contributors to the book examine various provocative aspects of Burke's thought. Conor Cruise O'Brien explores Burke's hostility to "theory", Darrin McMahon considers Burke's characterization of the French Enlightenment, Jack Rakove contrasts the views of Burke and American constitutional framers on the process of drawing up constitutions, and Alan Wolfe investigates Burke, the social sciences, and liberal democracy.

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

Frank M. Turner is John Hay Whitney Professor of History, Yale University. Conor Cruise O'Brien is the author of The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography and Commented Anthology of Edmund Burke. Darrin M. McMahon is the author of Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. Jack N. Rakove of Stanford University was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. Alan Wolfe is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College and the author of Moral Freedom: The Search for Virtue in a World of Choice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0300099789
• ISBN 13: 9780300099782
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352