The Pen and the Sword

Jonathan Swift and the Power of the Press

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book The Pen and the Sword by Michael Foot, Faber & Faber
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Author: Michael Foot ISBN: 9780571287338
Publisher: Faber & Faber Publication: October 4, 2012
Imprint: Faber & Faber Language: English
Author: Michael Foot
ISBN: 9780571287338
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication: October 4, 2012
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Language: English

Disappointment can be salutary. In the 1955 election Michael Foot surprisingly lost his seat. Until then he had been a journalist, albeit a prolific and influential one. He now had more time on his hands. To both his father, Isaac Foot, and himself Jonathan Swift was a hero. His father, who believed writing to be the supreme vocation, now encouraged him to write a book on Swift. The result was The Pen and the Sword.

Michael Foot concentrates on the crucial two years of 1710-11. In that time Swift published one of his most devastating polemics The Conduct of the Allies that tore into the Whig government and the Duke of Marlborough in particular. It is an important moment in English History: the pen and the sword fought a duel, and the pen proved the stronger of the two.

First published in 1957 it was well and widely reviewed.

'Enthralling ... a fine piece of historical writing.' Spectator

'An exciting story excellently narrated ... a lucid guide to one of the most complicated patterns of intrigue and manoeuvre that the eighteenth-century can provide ... intensely dramatic.' Harold Nicolson, Observer

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Disappointment can be salutary. In the 1955 election Michael Foot surprisingly lost his seat. Until then he had been a journalist, albeit a prolific and influential one. He now had more time on his hands. To both his father, Isaac Foot, and himself Jonathan Swift was a hero. His father, who believed writing to be the supreme vocation, now encouraged him to write a book on Swift. The result was The Pen and the Sword.

Michael Foot concentrates on the crucial two years of 1710-11. In that time Swift published one of his most devastating polemics The Conduct of the Allies that tore into the Whig government and the Duke of Marlborough in particular. It is an important moment in English History: the pen and the sword fought a duel, and the pen proved the stronger of the two.

First published in 1957 it was well and widely reviewed.

'Enthralling ... a fine piece of historical writing.' Spectator

'An exciting story excellently narrated ... a lucid guide to one of the most complicated patterns of intrigue and manoeuvre that the eighteenth-century can provide ... intensely dramatic.' Harold Nicolson, Observer

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