Reflections on the Revolution in France
by Edmund Burke
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1790
- Form
- Political theory
- Language
- English
- Length
- Medium · 300 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendReflections on the Revolution in FranceHackett, 1987J. G. A. Pocock's edition, with a strong introduction and the notes students need for the 1790 references.
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Written as a letter to a young Frenchman a year after the fall of the Bastille, Burke's attack on the Revolution predicts that it will end in military dictatorship. He argues that a society is a partnership between the dead, the living and the unborn; that rights are inherited, not deduced from abstract principle; that prejudice and habit hold civilisation together; and that the Assembly's confiscation of church property and destruction of the old orders has let loose forces it cannot govern. The passage on Marie Antoinette and the age of chivalry is the most famous.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Reflections on the Revolution in France are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
