This audiobook version narrated by John Gonzalez struck the right tone for the mix of dispassionate rhetoric and winking satire. This work's place in history would afford it a much higher rating, but it does go on a bit too long in macabre details to be an enjoyable read today.

This essay did remind me of a similarly macabre book of cartoons addressing the subject of how to deal with the members of "the surplus population" back in the early 80s—101 Uses for the Unemployed.

Twisted. Satire in 1729 was very different- no wonder the American colonies rebelled.

"A Modest Proposal" is one of the political essays collected in this little book, written by Jonathan Swift in the 1700s.

It's a satire proposing a solution to famine in Ireland -- a solution that is shocking, absurd, and laugh-out-loud funny. I had no idea what this book was about before I started it and couldn't believe my eyes at first when I read about the economical benefits of eating... human babies.

The other essays are interesting as well, also criticizing the state of affairs through witty humor and irony or simply expressing concern. I liked this quote especially:
"[...] the true causes of any countries flourishing and growing rich [...]. The sixth is by being governed only by laws made with their own consent; for otherwise they are not a free people."

A shocking, reprehensible book. In these days of fuel poverty, it seems reckless to encourage eating of children when we could be using them as a fuel source instead.

When I first read this almost four years ago for my sophomore English class in high school, when we were learning to write satire, I was utterly disgusted that something like this would even be suggested, even in a solely satirical manner. I never managed to look at the writing, or look past the idea of, this guy is suggesting we eat children?

Now I am a freshman in college. A few weeks ago I watched an episode of a sitcom with my college friends about a guy who goes to a "cooking lesson," only to find out that the guy's actual objective was to cook and eat him, but only with his consent. They chalk it up to a misunderstanding, but there is a lot of discussion later about this cannibal, and whether it's okay if he's trying to eat people as long as he kills and eats them with their consent.

This episode got me thinking once again about [b:A Modest Proposal|5206937|A Modest Proposal|Jonathan Swift|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348659670l/5206937._SX50_.jpg|6627040], and about the ramifications of the way we treat humans in a society like today's.

In the past week, I have reread [a:Jonathan Swift|1831|Jonathan Swift|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1183238507p2/1831.jpg]'s essay four or five times, and I have decided to write a near-future novel where cannibalism is not only legal, it is the only sufficient source of protein. I'm taking a lot from Swift's satirical essay to write this. I think it's really interesting that nobody has ever expanded on the ideas brought forth in [b:A Modest Proposal|5206937|A Modest Proposal|Jonathan Swift|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348659670l/5206937._SX50_.jpg|6627040]. I read someone else's review from six years ago claiming that somebody should, and I have a serious plan to write a novel based on Swift's "proposal," which is still appreciated, and possibly more universally understood, three hundred years later.

After two world wars, an arms race, the impending threat of climate change, we have a world that, in general, doesn't care about people or life. This is what Swift criticized three hundred years ago, and this is what we are experiencing today.