Reflections on The Revolution in France And Other Writings: Edmund Burke (Everyman's Library CLASSICS) Hardcover

Amid the 18th century’s golden generation that included his companions Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edward Gibbon, Burke’s controversial mixture of conservative and subversive theories made him first a marginal figure, and finally a revered theorist – a hero of the Romantics.

• He warned of the effects of British rule in Ireland,
• Predicted the loss of the American colonies, and
• Most famously, foresaw the disastrous consequences of revolution in France.

This, he predicted, would trigger extremism, terror, and the atomisation of society – a profound analysis that continues to resonate today.

In this absorbing new biography, Conservative MP Jesse Norman gives us Burke anew, vividly depicting his dazzling intellect, imagination, and empathy against the rich tapestry of 18th-century Europe. Burke’s wisdom, Norman shows, applies well beyond the times of empire to the conventional democratic politics practised in Britain and America today.

We cannot understand the defects of the modern world, or modern politics, without him.