Audiobook9 hours
Edmund Burke: The First Conservative
Written by Jesse Norman
Narrated by Antony Ferguson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
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.
Author
Jesse Norman
Jesse Norman has written two biographies. This is his first novel.
Related to Edmund Burke
Related audiobooks
The American Revolution: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radicalism of the American Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Russell Kirk's Concise Guide to Conservatism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89: Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brotherhood of the Revolution: How America's Founders Forged a New Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Reform Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Idea of Europe and the Origins of the American Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Churchill's Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Understanding Democracy in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reflections on the Revolution in France Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5James Madison and the Making of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democracy in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Redeeming the Great Emancipator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Society: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the Founding Fathers were Really Like (and What We can Learn from Them Today): (and What We Can Learn From Them Today) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Marriage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of the Wreckage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Edmund Burke
Rating: 4.088235317647059 out of 5 stars
4/5
17 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good look at the life and philosophy of the 18th-century politician Edmund Burke. I really appreciated the first half of the work, detailing Burke's life and major political endeavors. In the last half, primarily about Burke's thought and writings, I felt like I could really see the author's day job as a conservative MP coming through. I did like how Burke was tied to other Enlightenment figures, such as Rousseau, and the focus on how Burke is relevant today, but sometimes these pieces felt a little forced and overreaching. Overall, a good overview of a subject I hope to read more about.