Edmund Burke, Jesse Norman
Edmund Burke, Jesse Norman
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Edmund Burke
The First Conservative

Author: Jesse Norman

Narrator: Antony Ferguson

Unabridged: 9 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/18/2013


Synopsis

Edmund Burke is both the greatest and the most underrated political thinker of the past three hundred years. A brilliant 18th-century Irish philosopher and statesman, Burke was a fierce champion of human rights and the Anglo-American constitutional tradition, and a lifelong campaigner against arbitrary power. Revered by great Americans including Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, Burke has been almost forgotten in recent years. But as politician and political philosopher Jesse Norman argues in this penetrating biography, we cannot understand modern politics without him.

As Norman reveals, Burke was often ahead of his time, anticipating the abolition of slavery and arguing for free markets, equality for Catholics in Ireland, and responsible government in India, among many other things. He was not always popular in his own lifetime, but his ideas about power, community, and civic virtue have endured long past his death. Indeed, Burke engaged with many of the same issues politicians face today, including the rise of ideological extremism, the loss of social cohesion, the dangers of the corporate state, and the effects of revolution on societies. He offers us now a compelling critique of liberal individualism, and a vision of society based not on a self-interested agreement among individuals, but rather on an enduring covenant between generations.

Burke won admirers in the American colonies for recognizing their fierce spirit of liberty and for speaking out against British oppression, but his greatest triumph was seeing through the utopian aura of the French Revolution. In repudiating that revolution, Burke laid the basis for much of the robust conservative ideology that remains with us to this day: one that is adaptable and forward-thinking, but also mindful of the debt we owe to past generations and our duty to preserve and uphold the institutions we have inherited. He is the first conservative.

A rich, accessible, and provocative biography, Edmund Burke describes Burke's life and achievements alongside his momentous legacy, showing how Burke's analytical mind and deep capacity for empathy made him such a vital thinker—both for his own age, and for ours.

About Jesse Norman

Jesse Norman, Member of Parliament for Hereford and South Herefordshire, is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange, the most influential British conservative think tank based in London. He is widely regarded as one of the architects of New Conservatism, a political philosophy that stresses using traditionally conservative techniques and concepts in order to improve the general welfare of society. Jesse is also the author or editor of several books, including The Achievement of Michael Oakeshott, The Big Society, Compassionate Conservatism, and After Euclid.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on February 16, 2021

This book is easy to read and is interesting, but I cannot help feel there is something wrong. The first part of the book is an average biography of Edmund Burke (1729-1797). But, the last half of the book appears to me to be Jesse Norman’s opinions and viewpoints not that of Burke. I maybe wrong, b......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on September 27, 2023

Philosopher, Pioneer, Prophet. Jess Norman has written this book in an attempt to connect the famous Irish politician Edmund Burke to modern conservatism in the United Kingdom. Burke is seen as a prophet for ideas of big society and the decent citizen who gets involved in their community. A proud cit......more

Goodreads review by Alan on December 31, 2020

Very interesting and extremely well written. The first half of the book is a biography of Burke with excellent historical context. The second half is an analysis of Burke's political philosophy, and a wide ranging examination of how it relates to today's world, delving into political science, anthro......more

Goodreads review by Howard on November 03, 2013

British MP Jesse Norman has written an engaging and accessible biography of the great foundational philosopher of Anglo-American conservatism Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Biographies of their forebears appears to be something of a tradition among Conservative politicians: William Hague, Britain’s forei......more

Goodreads review by Justin on October 29, 2021

Misleading (because Burke was not a conservative in any modern meaning of the term) and hagiographical (because we all need a hero, but why choose this one?), and also readable and kind of fun.......more