Bolingbroke and His Circle: America Versus Japan in Global Competition

Behind this study lie two questions. Why is Bolingbroke, known primarily as a rationalist philosopher of the Enlightenment, so worshipped by English conservatives who are themselves, since Burke, so set against what the Enlightenment represents in political, social, and religious thought? The second question relates to Bolingbroke's public life. How does one explain the intense animosity between Bolingbroke and Walpole which provides the energy for English political life between 1725 and 1740? Is it mere vindictiveness, ambition, jealousy, or the inevitable reflex of the 'outsider' against the 'insider'? Or is it, as the late Victorian writers thought, their falling out at Eton which forever fated them to be protagonists?--from the Preface.

Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 05/19/1992
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 9.23h x 6.06w x 0.83d
ISBN: 9780801480010

About the Author

Isaac Kramnick is Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government at Cornell University.