Reflections on the Revolution in France (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Edmund Burke (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 16, 1982 | ISBN-10: 0140432043 | ISBN-13: 978-0140432046 | Edition: Reprint

‘To make a revolution is to subvert the ancient state of our country; and no common reasons are called for to justify so violent a proceeding’

Burke’s seminal work was written during the early months of the French Revolution, and it predicted with uncanny accuracy many of its worst excesses, including the Reign of Terror. A scathing attack on the revolution’s attitudes to existing institutions, property and religion, it makes a cogent case for upholding inherited rights and established customs, argues for piecemeal reform rather than revolutionary change – and deplores the influence Burke feared the revolution might have in Britain. Reflections on the Revolution in France is now widely regarded as a classic statement of conservative political thought, and is one of the eighteenth century’s great works of political rhetoric.

Conor Cruise O’Brien’s introduction examines the contemporary political situation in England and Ireland and its influence on Burke’s point of view. He highlights Burke’s brilliant grasp of social and political forces and discusses why the book has remained so significant for over two centuries.

Editorial Reviews

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

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Library of Liberal Arts title. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (December 16, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140432043
• ISBN-13: 978-0140432046
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original Exposition of Conservative Principles July 18, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Edmund Burke is considered by many to be the first to expound upon Conservative principles. And this book provides plenty of justification for that view. Burke's "reflections" are especially potent since they not only provide a common sense defense of Conservative values but allow one to examine the consequences of ignoring those values, vis-à-vis the French Revolution. Burke defends the stability that comes with constancy and aged wisdom and derides those that embrace variability and experimentation as virtues. However, the reader is not left with the impression that Burke is opposed to all change. Quite the contrary. Recognizing the fallibility of Man, Burke fully expects that there is to be changes in our habits and prejudices as part of the normal course of human endeavors in order to improve upon established wisdom. But he forthrightly rejects the wholesale dismissal of knowledge and wisdom accumulated over vast periods of time. And he holds no punches in castigating the French Revolutionaries who were so presumptuous and arrogant as to count their vernacular wisdom wiser than that of all generations preceding them. He uses example after example of failures in the French experiment to demonstrate the futility and imbecility of starting afresh instead of building upon an existing foundation. This book is an absolute must read for conservatives.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I thoroughly enjoyed every word of this book. March 24, 2001

By miked99

Format:Paperback

This version (Penguin Classics) has a wonderfully informative(81 pages) introduction that will bring anyone not familiar with Edmund Burke or his writings up to par.

Edmund Burke originally wrote what became "Reflections" as a letter in response to a young Parisian man who sought his support. He later went back to elaborate upon the original letter and wrote this book, knowing then that the book would be read by many more than the simple few that would read the letter.

In "Reflections on the Revolution in France", Edmund Burke lays down his arguments against several items on which he disagreed with the National Assembly leaders responsible for the French Revolution. The basis for most of his concerns was that he saw the French to be tossing aside all the prior wisdom and knowledge gained throughout history, simply to erect a radical, new government. It is amazing in retrospect to see how uncannily Burke predicted the Reign of Terror that would follow shortly. Thomas Paine, a hero of the US Revolution, who then went to France to aid in their revolt, angrily chastized Burke and this book, in Paine's "The Rights of Man." But while Paine gave many valid points in his book (I recommend it and this one for the full spectrum of the debate), he clearly ended up on the wrong side of this argument.

Another thing I found so amazing about reading this book was how Burke's warnings to the French are still almost entirely applicable today. One of my favorite passages, Burke writing about the general public, is something I would love to personally deliver to every modern-day political pollster (not to mention Bill Clinton & Co.): "A perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world... It is therefore of infinite importance that they (the people) should not be suffered to imagine that their will, any more than that of kings, is the standard of right and wrong."

I recommend this book to anyone who thinks logically or wants to know why conservatives think the way they do. Also, if you believe yourself to normally be conservative, but often find yourself pinned or lacking an explanation for why you are against something that the majority, or "trendy" minorities, might support, then this book is where you need to start.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep and prophetically eloquent. July 4, 2000

By David Marshall

Format:Paperback

In Life of Johnson, Boswell brings up the name of Johnson's one-time sparing partner, Edmund Burke. Johnson, being quite sick, and not given to easy praise, admits, "Yes, Burke is an extraordinary man." Boswell tries to coax a more quotable reply, and Johnson, who thought argument the sole end of conversation, finally noted, "That fellow calls forth all my powers. Were I to see Burke now, it would kill me."

Reflections on the Revolution in France should not be a killer read for most, but is difficult in spots. Many of the sentences are long and complex, written in an age when thought and rhetoric had not yet been corroded by sound bites. Some of the topics may seem a bit obscure now. But this is undoubtedly a great book, by a great man, thinking lucidly and passionately about great issues. It is indeed a work of great intellectual power. At the same time, it is also a work of moral passion, balance, and foresight, often eloquently and sometimes simply expressed.

Much of it is also remarkably timely. Not only did Burke seem to anticipate the extremes to which the French Revolution was tending, the great Marxist revolutions of our times also often greatly resemble his remarks. "It is a suffient motive to destroy an old scheme of things, because it is an old one." "Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle." "Criminal means once tolerated are soon preferred. . . Justifying perfidy and murder for the public benefit, public benefit will soon become the pretext, and perfidy and murder the end." Examples could be multiplied. Reading the book, the subsequent history not only of communism, but also of progressive social cults in the West, becomes more comprehensible.

I prefer to think of Burke primarily in moral or spiritual terms, rather than political. Burke remarks, anticipating Rank and Becker and preempting Marx's silly economic heresy, (and anticipating Marxist personality cults) "Man is by his constitution a religious animal." One of the attractive things about Burke to me is his non-sectarian faith; he spoke from a viewpoint C.S.Lewis later described as "Mere Christianity." Some of his insights also parallel those of the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. What the two men shared was intellectual accuity combined with humility that expressed itself as a willingness to sit at the feet of teachers of the past. "We know that we have made no discoveries; and we think that no discoveries are to be made, in morality." That is one pole within the orthodox Christian approach to morality; God has "placed eternity in our hearts;" the Tao is universal, as Lewis argued.

Burke's argument may go too far at times; surely some of the changes wrought by the French Revolution were for the good, and there is something to be said for the moral passion of the revolutionary. And not every paragraph is interesting to me. Still, overall, the balance and sanity of this book remain not just as a monument to the powers of its author, but as useful resource to anyone who thinks about the relation of power and morality. Solomon said, "Pride comes before a fall." This book is, in some ways, a prophetic and wise meditation on the social consequences of that deep truth.

Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man (July 2000) [e-mail]