His lucid and passionate manifesto, written in the form of letters, employs examples from the aftermath of the French Revolution to demonstrate the superiority of gradual political change over outright anti-authoritarian revolt. Endlessly reprinted and studied by countless scholars and other readers, this is a classic of political science and a cornerstone of modern conservative thought.īurke ranked among the era's most eloquent defenders of democracy however, he also realized the dangers of unchecked liberty and that mob rule is in no way better than the reign of a king or dictator. It provoked an enormous reaction, both supportive and critical, with a flood of pamphlets and books (including Thomas Paine's enduring denunciation, The Rights of Man).
Published in 1790, two years before the start of the Terror, Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France offered a remarkably prescient view of the chaos that lay ahead.
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