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Book Review, English 20th Century, Europe 18th Century, Europe 19th Century, History, My Ramblings, Social Commentary
Book Review: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
The cornerstone of Kirk’s essay is that Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was the founder of Modern Conservatism. I have read two of Burke’s works, Speech on Conciliation with America (1775) and Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). I found them both to be profound. Kirk takes up the conservative conversation starting with Burke and expounds upon it. He goes into depth explaining what he feels are the key points that Burke stressed and how these were continued in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
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Book Review: De Quincey by David Masson
Title: De Quincey Author: David Masson Published: New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1887. Pages-198. (Part of the English Men of Letters series edited by John Morley) Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) was an English writer widely known as the author of Confessions of an Opium Eater. The surname might suggest a French importation, but De Quincey was sensitive to this and stressed that his family had come in with the Conquest and even consisted of some Earls of Winchester in the thirteenth century. Today we might not think much of that, but in De Quincey’s day it was an important distinction. His father was Thomas Quincey (abt. 1752-1792), it seems De Quincey resurrected the “De” with his generation. His father was a literary man and wrote a book A Short Tour in the Midland Counties of England, performed in the Summer of 1772: together with an Account of a Similar Excursion undertaken September, 1774. Masson gives us his impression of the father’s book: “There is an eye also for the picturesque in scenery, and for architectural beauties or defects in towns, churches, and country-seats; and the style is that of a well-educated man, accustomed to write English. Once or twice…
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Book Review: “Christopher North” A Memoir of John Wilson
Title: “Christopher North” A Memoir of John Wilson, Late Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, compiled from family papers and other sources by his daughter, Mrs. Gordon Author: Mrs. Gordon, Mary Wilson Gordon Published: New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1863. 484-pages. This book is a biography about a Man of Letters, John Wilson. The term is not really used much anymore. My Encyclopedia Britannica only has a few lines dedicated to him. Wikipedia has just a few paragraphs. However, after reading this book, and thinking about the man, his career, his family, and friends, perhaps it is not Wilson that has lost something by being lost to obscurity, but rather, our loss, a sign of our own decadence and self-centeredness. We, being society in general, tend to think and act like we are the end in itself. I believe we have a lot to learn by studying history and people of importance. How were they able to find and acknowledge the truths they encountered? What were the reasons why they became who they were? Who did they influence? What does this tell us about the human condition in general? In particular? How can we learn from past…
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Book Review: Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
Huxley, like many other great people, uses many literary references and was very well read. In all his education reform he stresses the need for men of science to have a good background in literature. He states, “Science and literature are not two things, but two sides of one thing.”
