Endorsements for Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy

“Gregory Collins elegantly demonstrates that Edmund Burke, like his great contemporary Adam Smith, understood that commerce, properly conducted, can make individuals and communities not only better off, but better overall. Burke, like Smith, understood that political and economic thinking should intersect in a theory of moral sentiments.”
George F. Will Washington Post

“A revelation.”
David Brooks The New York Times

“Gregory Collins’s study of the economic ideas of Burke is a comprehensive achievement. It will set the terms of discussion for a generation on Burke’s political economy and its relation to his thinking about manners and morals.”
David Bromwich Yale University, author of The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke

“The first serious monograph dedicated to examining [Burke’s] views on political economy…An important and original study that adds significantly to our understanding of Burke.”
Richard Bourke University of Cambridge

“Collins’s scholarship is impeccable.”
Richard Whatmore University of St Andrews

“With care and rigor leavened by an engaging writing style, Gregory Collins has dramatically advanced our understanding of Burke’s economic thought. This is an indispensable guide for all future Burke scholars.”
Yuval Levin National Affairs

“A thorough study of Edmund Burke’s thought on economics in which every aspect is well-considered, every scholar answered, every point nicely phrased. This is a major contribution to Burke scholarship and to our understanding of the beginnings and principles of modern economics.”
Harvey C. Mansfield Harvard University and Stanford University

“Collins’s treatment of an undervalued aspect of Burkean thought will earn the prescriptive right to stand, for a long time, as the definitive study of the Anglo-Irish statesman’s political economy. Collins has done students of Burke and of political economy alike an immense service.”
Greg Weiner Assumption College

“A deep study…There’s no mistaking this learned disquisition for a beach book.”
James Grant Wall Street Journal

“A tremendous achievement, one that reflects a great deal of thought and inspires a good deal of reflection as well…deeply researched and well-argued.”
Jerry Z. Muller The Catholic University of America

“A fine book. It makes both an important contribution to contemporary debates about conservatism and freedom and to Burke scholarship.”
Peter Berkowitz Hoover Institution, Stanford University

“Now the leading Burke scholar on this side of the pond.”
Daniel Klein National Review

“The definitive account of Burke’s economic thought…Refreshingly devoid of ideological agendas.”
Samuel Gregg Law & Liberty

“[An] illuminating study of Burke’s economic thought.”
Emily Jones University of Manchester

“This very thorough and thoughtful book goes a long way toward setting the record straight.”
Tyler Cowen Marginal Revolution 

“A very considerable achievement. Not only pioneering substantively, but erudite, fair-minded, and well-written.” 
Samuel Moyn Yale University and Yale Law School

“Gregory Collins’s book offers an impressive theoretical—and sometimes empirical—exploration of Edmund Burke’s political economy.”
Brianne Wolf Michigan State University

“The most thorough and nuanced assessment available on Burke’s political economy.”
John Grove The University Bookman

“The book is the first serious book-length study of Burke’s economic thought… Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy is written with an eye to modern politics, it presents a historical Burke, reinforced by meticulous research…”
Max Skjönsberg Dublin Review of Books

“A remarkable tome.”
Mark Skousen Presidential Fellow, Chapman University

“Commerce and Manners is, undoubtedly, the most comprehensive study available on Burke’s economic thought … the most critical merit of the work is that it places Burke’s thought in the intellectual context and resolves any prima facie contradictions, frictions, or discrepancies that may appear in his works. Overall, the book delivers what it promises: a systematic exposition of the interaction of commerce and ethics in the Anglo-Irish statesman’s thought.’

Ioannes P. Chountis University of Aberdeen