A Modest Proposal

First published in 1729, A Modest Proposal is Jonathan Swift’s most famous and devastating satire.

Written in response to widespread poverty and political indifference in eighteenth-century Ireland, the essay adopts a chillingly rational tone to argue an outrageous solution to social suffering. Swift’s brilliance lies in the calm precision of his voice, exposing cruelty, hypocrisy and moral complacency by taking them to their logical extreme.

Brief, unsettling and still startlingly relevant, A Modest Proposal remains one of the sharpest works of political satire ever written.

Babel Books: Lovingly restored literary classics for modern readers.