num_pages: 1381
description: Burke has endured as the permanent manual of political wisdom without which statesmen are as sailors on an uncharted sea.— Harold LaskiOriginally published by Oxford University Press in the 1890s, the famed Payne edition of 
  Select Works of Burke
 is universally revered by students of English history and political thought. Volume 1 contains Burke's brilliant defense of the American colonists' complaints of British policy, including "Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents" (1770), "Speech on American Taxation" (1774), and "Speech on Conciliation" (1775). Volume 2 consists of Burke's renowned 
  Reflections on the Revolution in France.
 Volume 3 presents Burke's Four Letters on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France--generally styled 
  Letters on a Regicide Peace
 (1795–1796). The 
  Letters,
 Payne believed, deserve to "rank even before [Burke's] 
  Reflections,
 and to be called the writer's masterpiece." Faithfully reproduced in each volume are E. J. Payne's notes and introductory essays. Francis Canavan, one of the great Burke scholars of the twentieth century, has added forewords and a biographical note on Payne. In the companion volume, Miscellaneous Writings, Canavan has collected seven of Burke's major contributions to English political thinking on representation in Parliament, on economics, on the political oppression of the peoples of India and Ireland, and on the enslavement of African blacks. The volume concludes with a select bibliography on Edmund Burke. The volumes complement the Liberty Fund editions of Burke's 
  A Vindication of Natural Society,
 edited by Frank N. Pagano, and 
  Further Reflections on the Revolution in France,
 edited by Daniel E. Ritchie.Francis Canavan (1917-2009) was Professor of Political Science at Fordham University from 1966 until his retirement in 1988.Select Works of Edmund Burke: Volume ISelect Works of Edmund Burke: Volume IISelect Works of Edmund Burke: Volume III
language: English
title: Select Works of Edmund Burke
titlecomplete: Select Works of Edmund Burke
publisher: Liberty Fund