title: A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works (Dover Thrift Editions)
author:  Jonathan Swift 
description: If you read this in high school (as many of us did), it may have shocked you--not bad for a tract written in 1729. It wouldn't be fair to those of you who haven't come across <i>A Modest Proposal</i> to reveal the particulars of the piece; suffice it to say that <i>Saturday Night Live</i> has nothing on Jonathan Swift! Swift's discussion of what Great Britain should do for his native impoverished Ireland is a model of political satire, absolutely consistent in tone and even now still sparkling in its clarity. The balance between, on the one hand, the utter seriousness of the matter in question and, on the other, the outrageousness of the remedy suggested is exquisite. <i>A Modest Proposal</i> is short and comes bound in this edition with several of Swift's other writings. This volume is an excellent introduction to the author of <a href="/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679601880/${0}"><i>Gulliver's Travels</i></a> (itself a masterwork) and to one of the world's premier satirical minds. What are you waiting for? <i>--Michael Gerber</i>
zlib_text:   
  The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pieces People Ask For, by Various  
    
  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with  
  almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or  
  re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included  
  with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license  
    
    
  Title: Pieces People Ask For  
  Serious, Humorous, Pathetic, Patriotic, and Dramatic  
  Selections in Prose and Poetry for Reading and Recitations  
    
  Author: Various  
    
  Editor: George Melville Baker  
    
  Release Date: April 21, 2018 [EBook #57018]  
    
  Language: English  
    
    
  *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIECES PEOPLE ASK FOR ***  
    
    
    
    
  Produced by David Edwards, Paul Marshall and the Online  
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  # Pieces People Ask For
  
  
  SERIOUS, HUMOROUS, PATHETIC, PATR