The Portable Edmund Burke

by Edmund Burke, Isaac Kramnick, Athena Dixon

Book Overview

The intellectual wellspring of modern political conservatism, Edmund Burke is also considered a significant figure in aesthetic theory and cultural studies. As a member of the House of Commons during the late eighteenth century, Burke shook Parliament with his powerful defense of the American Revolution and the rights of persecuted Catholics in England and Ireland; his indictment of the English rape of the Indian subcontinent; and, most famously,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140267603
• ISBN13: 9780140267600
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.0" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Not meant to be All The Burke You'll Ever Need

I think the 2-star reviewers are missing the point; the "Reflections" are widely available, whereas much of the best of Burke is found in shorter texts that are harder to find. One would expect the editors to favor those texts instead of providing yet another full text of a book that any Burke reader should already have. (That said, one also suspects that Penguin wants to keep selling its edition of the full "Reflections" ....) Whatever its faults, there's really no alternative to this volume for the common reader.

Thematic is best

Presenting Edmund Burke thematically is perhaps the only way to really approach Burke, as Conor Cruise O'Brien or Russell Kirk (Burke's best biographers) would probably agree. So unlike `On Empire, Liberty, and Reform,' which is chronological, the portable Edmund Burke instead tackles Burke under the themes of America, Ireland, India, and the French Revolution, and a couple other sub-themes, with invaluable commentary. By the end of the book, Burke is better enveloped here than in most biographies, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!