A Modest Proposal

Published as a pamphlet in 1729, this devilishly witty essay by the author of Gulliver's Travels takes the form of an economic treatise. It satirizes England's brutal exploitation of Ireland with an outlandish premise presented with mock seriousness. The notion is that Irish poverty can be corrected with a simple proposal: butcher the children of the Irish poor and sell them as food to the wealthy English.