Customer Reviews

Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered

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In this easy to read volume Russell Kirk provides a succinct biography of "the first conservative of our time of troubles." Burke's political philosophy is clearly explained and Kirk introduces the reader to Edmund Burke the man.

The book basically deals with the four major issues of Burke's life: his resistance to Jacobinism, England's relationship with the American Colonies, the prosecution of Warren Hastings, and the stifling of George III's domestic authority. Kirk provides wonderful quotes throughout the book and thorough, balanced analysis.

Those looking for a critical assessment of Burke will not find it here, as Kirk, the great conservative thinker of our time, was a proponent of Burke and felt that his voice was still applicable in today's political climate. However, this does not compromise the integrity of this volume.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in political theory, politics, and/or history.

Edmund Burke is a philosopher & politician who needs to get more visibility, 200 years after his death I mean. His thought was key to British institutional & political thought during the time of the American and French Revolutions (often contrary to mainstream thought in Parliament and King George III, however). This book does a nice job providing an overview, one that is not too heavy-handed philosophically, and not so light-handed as popular history. A nice compromise. It is a good introduction and can lead the reader to other works about the period and about Burke. I am not quite clear on a previous reviewer's comment that the work was unbalanced in terms of covering only Burke's good qualities and not his bad ones. That individual must have read a different work than I did.

Kirk's introduction to the life and politics of Burke is essential to understanding Edmund Burke in his time and ours. More of a Political biography than a general biography, it is still a book whose prose is very readable and understandable. A biography of a great man by a great man.

Edmund Burke deserves better than this biography. The author Russell Kirk is full of admiration for Burke, but his unqualified praise of his subject is more deserving of a 19th century hagiography than it is a modern work. At no point in the book that I can remember does Kirk ever put anything but the most positive spin on the 18th century statesman/philosopher's actions. Burke is undoubtedly everything Kirk claims -- a great man, a genius, and his influence in both England and the United States largely underestimated - but even the greatest and wisest of men have blind spots and moments of weakness. Was Burke perhaps overzealous in his sixteen-year pursuit of Warren Hastings? Did Burke hide his Irish Catholic roots out of fear for what they could do to his ambitions if brought out in the open? Was his political philosophy less than consistent? Not according to Kirk.

Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered" does have its good points. It's well-written -- far more accessible than the Conor Cruise O'Brien biography "The Great Melody". (To be fair to O'Brien, his biography is not a straightforward work, but presents Burke's life thematically.) Kirk's book also makes some valid points about Burke's legacy, convincing the reader that Burke's philosophy is underappreciated by modern audiences. But a more balanced approach to Burke's life - without all the Great Man gloss -- would have made this point just as effectively.