Edmund Burke (1730-97) lived during one of the most extraordinary periods of world history. He grappled with the significance of the British Empire in India, fought for reconciliation with the American colonies, and was a vocal critic of national policy during three European wars. He also advocated reform in Britain and became a central protagonist in the great debate on the French Revolution.
Drawing on the complete range of printed and manuscript sources, Empire and Revolution offers a vivid reconstruction of the major concerns of this outstanding statesman, orator, and philosopher. In restoring Burke to his original political and intellectual context, this book overturns the conventional picture of a partisan of tradition against progress and presents a multifaceted portrait of one of the most captivating figures in eighteenth-century life and thought. A boldly ambitious work of scholarship, this book challenges us to rethink the legacy of Burke and the turbulent era in which he played so pivotal a role.
About the Author
Richard Bourke is professor in the history of political thought and codirector of the Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary University of London.
Industry Reviews
Co-Winner of the 2015 Istvan Hont Book Prize, Institute of Intellectual History Honorable Mention for the 2016 PROSE Award in Biography & Autobiography, Association of American Publishers Selected for the Claremont Review of Books CRB Christmas Reading List 2015 One of The Guardian's Best Books of 2015 One of The Indian Express Stand-Out Books of the Year 2015 One of the Irish Times 2015 Readers' Books of the Year Selected for National Review Online's "Some Great 2015 Books" One of The Spectator 2015 Books of the Year "[Empire and Revolution] takes us back to the beginning again with Burke, demolishing numerous shibboleths about his politics along the way... This book is both more creative and exhaustive than anything else in its single-mindedness--quite an achievement."--Duncan Kelly, Times Literary Supplement "Unsurpassable."--Colin Kidd, London Review of Books "An intensely rewarding read."--Jesse Norman MP, Times "Bourke's forensic anatomising of both the underlying consistency of Burke's commitments and also of the repeated misreadings to which his career has been subjected is a pleasure to read. Time and again Bourke skewers a misinterpretation with an acute discrimination... The range and depth of Bourke's research here, and his command of both the primary and secondary archives, is truly impressive. All future historians of ideas who intend to work on Burke will need to engage with the arguments of this book."--David Womersley, Standpoint "Bourke'sEmpire and Revolutionis the finest of intellectual portraits ... the definitive account of a life in ideas and politics."--Gavin Jacobson, Financial Times "A truly outstanding achievement... [Empire and Revolution] is the finest of all books on Edmund Burke."--Seamus Deane, Literary Review "A monument of exact scholarship and careful reflection, by a long way the best book that we have on this profound and much misunderstood politician and philosopher."--Jonathan Sumption, Spectator "A majestic study of a fascinating and gloriously ambiguous political thinker."--John Banville, Observer "Of Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke, by Richard Bourke ... It is hard to avoid the word 'magisterial'. Burke is a fascinating thinker, at once a conservative and a radical, and this beautifully written, scholarly study will be the last word on him for a long time to come."--John Banville, The Irish Times, Books of the Year "Richard Bourke's magisterial Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke ... authoritatively restores a key figure to his proper context."--Roy Foster, The Irish Times, Books of the Year "Richard Bourke's Empire & Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke [is] ... The historian's Burke in a truly massive tome."--Harvey Mansfield, Claremont Review of Books "In this wonderfully rich book, Richard Bourke tells the story of Burke's political endeavors and ideas in the context of the tumultuous time in which he lived... Bourke does it wonderfully... He paints a bold picture of a truly outstanding figure who nonetheless has to be grasped in light of the age in which he lived. You'll understand both better thanks to this book."--Yuval Levin, National Review Online "Masterful... Richard Bourke's Empire and Revolution is a magnificent intellectual biography."--Pratap Bhanu Mehta, The Indian Express "It is impossible not to admire the depth of Bourke's scholarship and the immense care and great intelligence he has displayed in examining Burke's thinking... [Empire and Revolution] is a veritable treasure trove that will offer gems of wisdom... [A]n absolute must read."--H. T. Dickinson, Intellectual History Review "This outstanding intellectual biography shows that the 18th-century Irish MP Edmund Burke can be appropriated by neither Right nor Left. Thanks to Bourke's meticulous and wide-ranging scholarship, what seem to be inconsistencies, such as condemning Warren Hastings' injustice in India but supporting the notion of empire, and supporting the American Revolution and deploring the French one, are shown to be part of Burke's nuanced, if time-bound, humanitarianism."--Jane O'Grady, Times Higher Education "The size of this volume and the fabric of its academic structure are daunting and energizing at the same time, especially given the extraordinarily high standard of analysis sustained over nine-hundred or so pages... Few intellectual historians would wish for a better illustration of their sub-discipline than Bourke's in this study, where the development of concepts and the related evolution of vocabulary are contextualized in a way that is intolerant of anachronism, yet remains both accessible and committed to the enduring relevance of Burke's thought and world."--Ian Crowe, University Bookman "Bourke's 1,000 page, extensively footnoted book seeks to cover every aspect of Edmund Burke's thought and career... This carefully argued book deserves to be read by anyone with a serious interest in Burke."--Choice "Richard Bourke's Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke ... is a landmark of scholarship... A magnificent achievement of intellectual biography, philosophical reconstruction, and historical revision."--Paul Sagar, Political Theory "[Empire and Revolution] sets a new standard not just in Burkean scholarship but in our understanding of late 18th century political thought."--Clifford Cunningham, Sun News Miami "Bourke possesses a subtle understanding of the political ideas at work in Burke's eighteenth century while, yet, he still brings to his comprehensive study both the sweep of the historian's eye and the depth of a historian's technical training... We can see not only the formation of Burke's ideas, but their meaning in a complex political and intellectual environment."--Steven P. Millies, Studies in Burke and His Time "Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke is ... one of several works of scholarship that have appeared in the past few years. Bourke's contribution to this corpus is a profoundly erudite study of Burke's political life; it will surely become a standard work."--Richard N. Price, American Historical Review "It is this combination of erudition, thoroughness and insight which makes Bourke's tome such a valuable contribution... Likely long to remain a standard by which other works on Burke are judged."--Mark Klobas, Political Studies Review "Bourke has produced a meticulous study that blends biography with intellectual and political history... An interesting reappraisal of one of modern history's most ambiguous political thinkers."--Gavin Murray-Miller, H-Net Reviews "Richard Bourke has contributed a monumental volume... Based on extremely thorough research in primary sources and fully up to date with the most recent secondary literature, Empire and Revolution achieves the difficult objective of making a distinctive addition to a deservedly crowded field."--Journal of the Historical Association
