Jonathan Swift Books

Since there is no product description, here are the stories included:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson,
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe,
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane,
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift,
Time Machine and The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

So I have not bought this copy, but I have a few different copies of A Modest Proposal and it is amazing.
Jonathan Swift is really the father of english satire in literature and, along with Gulliver's Travels, this is his magnum opus.
The basic idea is a proposal for economic reform by the export and eating of babies. Now the idea is rather gruesome, but Swift is not meant to be taken literally. The idea was so show how ridiculous people were being, fighting over religion and economics, by showing an idea that, truly could have worked for the time and place if people were okay with child murder. This is nothing short of one of the most hilarious arguments into the problems with governments and economic reform that was ever written.
I highly recommend this short piece for both humor, literature, and a look into the human social mind.

Cook in his book, Preface, gives theaudience a sence of really knowing Swift. He give a good insite to how Swift works and how he wanted things to go. This is a good literary biography of the man and is very reliable tool to have when working with Swift.

This was excellent. I didn't think I'd ever want to read Gulliver's Travels, the eighteenth century English satire by Jonathan Swift. But I couldn't put the book down. Now it was much a satire on the then current English royal system but what he writes can really almost be a satire on any political system. You can transpose it to be a satire on any American President.

Gulliver's travel is a great book about adventure. He was washed off his ship to shore. Next thing he knows he's tied down to the ground.

I liked this book because it was full of adventure where he met many tiny people that he did not know.

I also liked it because there were two tribes that he made friends with, which is very exciting.

Finally, I liked the book because the people in both tribes were enemies and fought a lot of the time which was really cool. They stopped fighting when Gulliver arrived because he pulled all the boats of the other tribe to the land of Liliput.

I recommend this book for all ages especially those people who love adventure.

(Review by Tristan)

Our hero Gulliver and his wife could use some counseling. It seems that every time he plops down on the sofa with his better-half and children, Gulliver gets restless and needs to go have another adventure. (Did they have sofas back then? If not, how did people crash out in front of their TV sets?) And he lives in idyllic old England, go figure!

Each time he does this (gets the traveling jones) he hops aboard some ship, tantamount to suicide in those days, eats salted meat and spoiled porridge for a few weeks, months or years, (unless there is a Chili's or Olive Garden nearby along the way--but he always seems to forget his coupons,) generally shipwrecks and sooner or later encounters some bizarre form of intelligent life in whatever fairyland he has found for himself this time, in whatever chapter of the book he happens to be sojourning in at this particular intersection of the time-space continuum.

Usually he is held captive, and then embosomed or exploited by whoever the freaks of nature are this time around, invariably escapes and by a series of miracles eventually finds his way home again, only to discover the same boring wife and children at the hearth waiting patiently despite the years that have passed without so much as a text message.

Along the way we are treated to Swift's amazing writing, great humor, wit and stellar imagination. Highly recommended, but it takes a bit of work to get through the whole thing.

Swift's masterwork has lost none of its bite. His acerbic misanthropy is on full display here.

As the book progresses, Swift's contempt for humanity grows. This is partly what made the book so compelling for me. Gulliver is only truly happy when he is among the Houyhnhnms, the horse people in the final part of the book. He develops such a dislike for humans that he finds it hard to re-acclimate upon returning to his family in England. What is compelling is that Swift was so obviously misanthropic, yet was able to get away with it. It really speaks to his skill as a novelist. In the hands of a lesser writer, this book would have come out horribly wrong.

Swift's descriptions of the different worlds are something to behold. As the reader, I could clearly picture each place in my mind. Swift gives the reader just enough to vividly imagine the world Gulliver is in at that time. Swift has the idea that the reader can do some of the work on his own, which is sadly not something authors ascribe to these days. This is partly the reason why this book is such a classic.

A wonderful commentary on the follies and shortcomings of humanity.

It took me a while to get to this book - it kept being recommended
by friends, but I was a bit put off by the effort I thought I would have to
put into reading a book written 300 years ago. Well, I was really suprised -
"Gulliver's Travels" is easier to reads, and is certainly written
much better, than most modern novels. Swift certainly didn't
have too high an opinion about humanity, but rarely was
he heavy handed. Thus he is entertaining even when he is
preachy.

I agree that the book was so popular because it succeeded on
so many different levels. It must have been outstanding political
satire in its time (the full effect has, not surprisingly, diminished
over time). However, it also reads well as a parody of travel
literature, a fairy tale, or speculative fiction.

I like this book. It gives you a good introduction to Swift. If you like the man, which this book tries to present through letters, then you can later read a more complete book with his writings.

Gulliver's Travels has stood the test of time, but the question can still be asked: What kind of work is it? I would not qualify it as a "novel". Scholars continue to debate what "a novel" is and when it emerged in the English literature. My own feeling is that Gulliver's Travel is not part of "the rise of the novel". To begin with, it lacks the attention to detail and characterization that typify novels generally. In my opinion, there are many other reasons why GT cannot be deemed a novel. Unfortunately, there is not space enough to list them all. UGT is a satiric 'tale', not a novel. To prove that GT is a novel would be a large task.

Indeed, when GT was published the idea of "character" as being important in writing was not firmly established yet. As for the notion that Swift taught satire to England, this is again debatable. Certainly Swift broadened satire, but satire typifies the seventeeth and eighteenth century in general. Dryden, especially, redefined satire in a major way, long before Swift. Regarding the claim that England produced/produces the best literature in the world, this is debatable. What about Germany and France? In the last 50 years, France has produced a considerable amount of Nobel Prize winning authors - far more than England. What about Russia? Dostyovski and Tolstoy are widely held to be the greatest novelists ever. To say that England reigns supreme, without having read French authors in French, German authors in German, Russian authors in Russian (and so on), is presumptious.

To return to GT, it is chock-full of political allusions but enjoyable even to readers unaware of the politics.

Jonathon Swift, a wonderful Irish satirist long before such great Irish twentieth century parodists, ironists and satirists such as Joyce, Shaw, WIlde and Beckett, served as an inspiration for much of what is best in our twentieth century literature. Particularly post-modern is his Tale of the Tub which first satirized the then new conventions of the printed book, as well described by PRof. Hugh Kenner.

This volume gives a full view of the spectrum of Mr. Swift's writings, beyond Gulliver. By the way, do read Gulliver unabridged (not Disney) to understand among other things how he put out the palace fire, and how he served as intimate toy in the land of the giants, and as always, get intelligent commentaries for fullest understanding and insight

FOr the greatest in English literature beyond Shakespeare, turn to the Irish, always, odd for a nation whose greatest tale-telling tradition and tour-de-forces remain spoken rather than written.

This book, the major works of possibly the greatest English writer to ever live (that's saying something since England has the greatest writers, well, until the Beat Generation came along)should have a very long list of reviews. I want to know about this book people! You are being selfish!

Having read Gulliver's Travels, I can say that Jonathan Swift was a genius. These works have so much with their irony, wit, and expert satire to teach us. It contains Swifts two early works of prose, A Tale of a Tub, from 1704, exposes and satires abuses in religion. Swift was the Dean of the St. Patrick's church in Ireland. The Battle of the Books, written in 1696, but not published until 1704, was Swift's first book and I think it is in this great book. The Great Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)is usually known as the writer of the Greatest Novel of the 18th Century, Gulliver's Travels, but he is also known as Britain's greatest satirist. Swift is the one who taught the modern world how to satire and, like they say, "Whom Gods destroy, they first make mad." Swift went slowly insane after writing awesome works like Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729)because he was just too much of a genius for the human body to hold and because of the Menier's Syndrome and probable Alzheimer's Disease, October 19, 1745 was the day Great Britan and the whole world lost the greatest satirist to ever live.

Somebody Write a REVIEW DAMNIT!!!

I haven't yet read the pieces in this book, but I was disappointed to find out that this book does NOT contain Gulliver's Travels.

One would expect that Jonathan Swift's Great Works would contain his greatest work. One would be wrong.

Picture this. The next presidential candidate for the United States presidency asks welfare citizens to eat their children so they can escape poverty. Not only would the opponent win a landslide victory, the candidate would probably be hounded and hunted by the rich and poor alike. Now, imagine the engaging British author Johnathan Swfit penning the peice entitled " A Modest Proposal," where he asks parents in Ireland to eat their children for they are high in nutrition and by eating them, the parents will help hinder the threat of overpopulation. It appears to be gruesome and make a mockery of the Irish people, until we dig depper into the satirical peice to see that Swift was trying to convey the starvation and oppresion of the Irish people by writing the peice in an English publication as well as a time when you were either for England or for Ireland, but never both. Swift's humorous outlook is really an expression of disgust to the circumstances that surrounded the Irish under a harsh tolatarian English rule. He succesfully engages the reader through humor as well as a fascinating argument where he encourages the reader to agree with his argument. I enjoyed " A Modest Proposal" because it had elements that other satries on the same subject lacked, humor. Swift is succesful at what he does because he does not tell the readers outright the conditions of the Irish people, but he weaves it skillfully into the essay, creating a fascinating, funny, and sharp essay.

I Personally think that the modest porposal is feasible. I think that If you read the story you will be able to understand all of it. There is no way out of what he has sugessted. HE is a very smart man and if you had no thoughts and or emotions you would be able to say the same if you were just given the poposal rather than read the book. Although he is feasible, or should I say his thoughts, what he has said will and never will work to solve the problem. in order to do so there needs to be some kind of agreement that states " I put all of my feelings aside and contmeplate with what the eral problem is. Nothing will ever be accomplished unless this is done.

Joseph Froehle

Famous now only for "Gulliver's Travels," Swift proves more cogently in his other satires that he is the English master of irony. For example, there is nothing remotely modest about what he proposes in "A Modest Proposal," which is that Irish people who are starving because of English economic policies should remedy their situation by eating their own children, boasting the added benefit of reducing the number of "papists." Like an eighteenth-century George Carlin, Swift is funny just for the blatant outrageousness of his words, but there is also a truthful undercurrent in much of what he says.

Swift, hereditarily an Englishman born in Dublin who became an Anglican minister and who was eventually sent back to Dublin--"exiled" as he called it--for the remainder of his life, made himself a mouthpiece for the Irish people and a gadfly to any authorities who he felt overstepped their bounds. In his "Drapier" letters, he warns the Irish not to take any wooden nickels; that is, to reject the base-metal currency being foisted upon them by the English in order to scuttle their economy. In his poem on "The Legion Club" he hurls hilarious verbal salvos at members of the Irish Parliament who are selling out to the English, caricaturing them as monsters and demons.

"A Tale of a Tub" goes everywhere, but the main narrative thread is an allegory of the Reformation. Three brothers, Peter, Martin, and Jack, inherit a fortune from their father and proceed to conquer the world, but entrapment by the vices (personified as women) incites them to squabble and results in a schism in which Martin (Luther) and Jack (John Calvin) leave Peter (the Roman church) for their own haunts. Interspersed throughout this tale are playful swipes at literary critics and pedants, including a fantasy on the professional windbags known as the Aeolists. Harold Bloom has called "A Tale of a Tub" the best prose work in the English language, and furthermore has said that he reads it on a regular basis to punish himself, which I think speaks volumes even if you don't value Bloom's opinion.

Religion is naturally one of Swift's concerns. He generally likes it, but he has the sensibility to say, "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." He advocates religious sobriety; in the "Mechanical Operation of the Spirit" he ridicules fanatics who claim to be able to communicate with God. His "Argument Against Abolishing Christianity" offers solid rationale for preserving the institution, one reason being that the criticism of it is the only forum which allows certain writers to exercise their rhetorical talents.

This edition also contains a short list of Swift's epigrams, at least one of which has achieved some notoriety: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Mostly these are observations of human nature and its folly, and while not all may resonate, some are surprisingly timeless: "It is a miserable thing to live in suspense; it is the life of a spider." Remember that the next time you decide to buy a lottery ticket.

This book is very interesting and you will not be able to put it down. It is a satire, but may take some time to see the humor in it after you start to read it. This book was written about 200 years ago in Ireland and is a view by the author on what should be done about homelessness. Swift's views are shocking and gruesome, yet gripping. The premise of his view appears to be very cruel, yet after thinking about what he says, you realize it is a mockery and is meant to be humorous, while still proving a point. His point is important and opens your eyes to the world and homelessness. I recommend this book to anyone interested in satirical works as it is probably the best one that I have ever read.

Economic advisors to governments ought to be tied down and made to read Swift's A Modest Proposal, along with Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. The irascible Dean of Dublin's St Pat's had enough spleen in him for ten generations. His blackly intelligent satire is as sharp today as the day it was first published.

I like this book because Gulliver was a nice man and longs for adventure.He signed up on a ship and crashed on an island where the people were no bigger than his finger.Before he returned home he crashed on another island where he was no bigger then the people on the island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was our 3rd grader's homeschool reading assignment. He is a reluctant reader, so it took him a while to finish it. The vocabulary is slightly difficult for a 9 or 10 year old, but daily discussions about what your student has read helps keep the story interesting and motivates them to read further. HOMESCHOOLERS: READ MY OTHER REVIEWS!

I think that this book was wonderful. I understand the book tothe last words. I think that Swift was giving a hint to the world ofhow we, as humans, truly are. For example, Gulliver first was shipwrecked on an Island inhabited by short beings. He felt all magestic, like he was the leader. He felt as if he was better then all of them, number one, superior in all ways. But when he came to be at the next land, HE was the small one and he finnaly relized that he wasn't the best, the most superior. He was in the middle, like most people. Then, He came to be on a land of super advanced people and learned what humans were tyring to be, only to come to the next land and find the human races true side. I think that this was one of the best books in the world, and I think that it should be required that kids in allschools read it by at least the fifth grade. The book could give kids better moral values, and they would understand how things realy are. END

What a wonderful book! Swift is the delightful kind of author that can combine humor, fantasy, and thought-provoking satire in a truly tongue-in-cheek book. And yet, it is more serious than that. A book that is both serious and whimsical at the same time. Go figure. I realize this is not the kind of book that will attract everyone, but those who read it with an open mind and maybe some knowledge of the time period will be in for a real treat. Heck, they don't even need the background knowledge. There is a reason that this book is a favorite of children as well as adults.

Gulliver is a ship surgeon who truly cannot seem to stay out of trouble. Every voyage he takes leads to disaster and the discovery of some impossible land: the miniature citizens of Lilliput, the giants of an unpronouncable names, the 1984 forerunners of Laputa, and the utopia of sentient horses.

These are all charming places, full of fantasy and flaws that are enjoyable to read. This is what attracts the kids and, hey, the adults.

Yes, the book is talky, but that is what makes it so charming. This is not so much a novel as it is an account--if you were telling about it, you would probably narrate the entire thing yourself, as well. To me, it makes it slightly less unbelievable.

Despite all the fantasy, Swift uses the book to poke fun at the lifestyle--frankly, I find its observations on human nature timeless.

I'm sorry, those without the patience to read, but here is another reason why we have the classics.

There is no need for me to go into what a marvelous and timeless classic "Guliver's Travels" is. The satire, while nearly 300 hundred years old, is as fresh today as it was in the 1720s.

What I will say about this particular edition is that it is very beautifully done. (If you can get the hardcover edition instead of the softcover, all the better.) The typeset, color engravings and supplemental material in the appendices add up to an excellent edition of this classic. I highly recommend it either as a gift or as a copy for your own library.

The Great Illustrated classics are great (no pun intended) I like Gulliver's travels. On a scale from 1 to 10 I give it a 8. It's a good book I liked the pic's thay where made very nice. I liked how the story was toled. it's fun to read. READ IT!

"...I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth."

There are many things "Gulliver's Travels": funny, comedic, satirical, depressing, inspiring, etc. But there is one thing it is not: a book for children. If Swift knew this he would laugh and telll us to boil our children and eat them! ;)

Swift is most likely the greatest satirist that ever lived and his intellect is very prominent in "Gulliver's Travels". He creates his own fool, Lemuel Gulliver, a man of great book intellect but too much wind in the ears. Swift sends him on little voyages to other countries not to give the reader something interesting to read but to shine a light of everyone's eyes. That's why Gulliver is so flat. Swift does not want the reader to understand Gulliver or even like Gulliver because "Gulliver's Travels" is NOT a novel and Gulliver is not a character, he's the human race surrounded by the human race.

Gulliver leaves his wife, who does not question him, and ends up on the isle of the Lilliputians, near Madagascar. There he is bound up and taken as prisoner of tiny people, only six inches in height. He proves these people that he is not only a genteel servant but he is quite a disgusting pig, seeing nothing wrong on urinating all over. What's so wrong with that? But Gulliver's disgusting ways are not the mind grabber. Look at the Lilliputians: they are petty little buggers making their govermental officials do tricks to get elected. Are we not the same?

Gulliver arrives at home only to leave his wife anbd family for the Brobdingnagians, the isle of the giants near the Cape of Good Hope. Now, it is reversed. Gulliver must endure the putrid stinche of these iodious animals and be used as a sex toy for the ladies. Obviously not for children. Swift takes from his poems to show how people may look beautiful on the outside, but we're really disgusting creatures underneath all the perfume. It's quite comical when he describes the farmer's wife's breasts. It made me think how men idiolize a woman for her breasts when they're really giants lump of flesh for nursing.

Part III is quick, Gulliver returns home, leaves and encounters four different people all near Japan. The Laputa's are hilarious, like some of our masterminds today, focusing on the higher level of thinking and rejecting the fundamental steps to these levels. Lagado is very similar except that these people extract sunbeams from cucumbers and do all sorts of ridiculous things that mean nothing at all. The Glubbdubdribs really caught my eye in that they are really intellectual but take pride in their sodomy, raping, incest, theft and other immoral acts. People seem to think genius equals insanity and insanity equals immorality. These people feel they can easily get away with whatever they deem well because they are intellectual.

Gulliver returns home, but I think he finally realizes he is deprived because he gets his older wife pregnant. He leaves her and encounters the Yahoos, the Id in Freudian theory and the Houyhnhnms, the super ego. This is my favourite Part and probably the saddest because we see what a lot of religious people do: reject the ego for the super ego (I do not mean manly ego, I am talking about Freud). I will not further discuss this part since this is the best part.

All throughout this satire, Swift throws a wet blanket on politics, religion (hypocritical religion) and the human race in general. We need to be ego, be human, but no petty, shiftless, disgusting or ignorant. I think Swift truly understands the complexities and simplicities of human nature.

Don't misunderstand, the book is great, so was the last book with the same title "Gullivers Travels. However both are what is called "Case books", or a critique of the work, or a landmark of the work describing a number of critics evaluating the work.What I wanted was THE BOOK "Gullivers Travels". Hopefully, when I reorder, I will finally get THE book.I'm learning.

Jonathan Swift is hillarious!! He is true to his words and expresses his beliefs about politics through gulliver. i thought the book was very good but kind of hard to follow at times. i liked the way swift tied in all of gulliver's travels, and also how swift managed to satire politics and religion and many other things of humanity. he is true to his words and i agree with many of the things that swift said in his book. for example when the Lilliputians are fighting because of which side of the egg to break off, i saw the relation to government and real wars right away. i would reccommend this book to anyone who has not read it. it is a very good look at society and governments.