In response to the dire economic conditions in eighteenth-century Ireland, A Modest Proposal ironically exhorts the poor to provide their offspring as food to the rich. Skilfully applying a wealth of classical rhetorical techniques, Swift's satirical tour de force takes a savage swipe at the selfishness of the ruling classes and the heartlessness of the various utilitarian solutions put forward by contemporary thinkers. In addition to this seminal piece, this volume includes a number of other humorous and polemical writings - including `A Short View of the State of Ireland' and `A Meditation upon a Broomstick' - which, taken together, provide an invaluable introduction to Swift as a master satirist and pamphleteer.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer of prose, poetry, essays and political pamphlets, and is probably the best-known satirist in the English language. His novel Gulliver's Travels is one of the landmarks of world literature.