This is the first collection of the writings of Edmund Burke which precede Reflections on the Revolution in France, and the first to do justice to the connections and breadth of Burke's thought. A thinker whose range transcends formal boundaries, Burke has been highly prized by both conservatives and liberals, and this new edition charts the development of Burke's thought and its importance as a response to the events of his day. Burke's mind spanned theology, aesthetics, moral philosophy and history, as well as the political affairs of Ireland, England, America, India and France, and he united these concerns in his view of inequality. In the writings in this edition Burke indicated how societies embodying revealed religion and social hierarchy could sustain civilisation and political liberty. These thoughts reached their apogee in Reflections on the Revolution in France. This edition provides the student with all the necessary information for an understanding of the complexities of Burke's thought. Each text is prefaced by a summary and notes to the texts elucidate the literary and historical references. An introduction and biographical and bibliographical essays help place these works in the context of Burke's thought as a whole.

"Harris provides much useful historical background, for which readers of Burke will be grateful." Jerry Z. Muller, Times Literary Supplement

"Burke's earlier political writings are more measured, more rationally argued, and often more interesting than his assaults on the revolutionaries in Paris, while his essays 'A Vindication of Natural Society' and 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful' raise intriguing, if unanswerable, questions about Burke's loathing for Rousseau and his understanding of the way in which aesthetics and politics connect. So Ian Harris's selection of pre-1790 Burke is particularly welcome....the extensive notes and bibliography will be useful to students, and the volume as a whole is very welcome." Ethics