Harry Jaffa and Jonathan Swift

In the summer of 2005 I had the good fortune to find myself seated across from the eminent conservative scholar Harry V. Jaffa at a dinner party in southern California. I'd graduated from college a little more than a year before this encounter, and despite the stamp on my official academic transcript that deemed me a major in the "Classics," I felt that my understanding of the roots of Western civilization was far from complete. To rectify this unacceptable state of affairs, it occurred to me that I might ask Professor Jaffa where to begin if I was to embark on a personal intellectual journey through the philosophy, theology, and history of the rich cultural tradition that I was so much in awe of.

I posed the question, my voice quivering just a bit, and tried to anticipate his response. There were four likely candidates, I thought: the Old Testament, Plato's Republic, the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, and Homer's Iliad. I was wrong on all counts.

"Jonathan Swift," I heard him say.

Excuse me!?

"Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, are you familiar with it?"

I've heard the name, yes.

"You should begin there."

Baffled at first, the Professor kindly explained his instructions. I eventually understood. Then, on my way back to the east coast, in truly fortuitous fashion, the airport bookstore happened to have one last copy of Swift's famous pamphlet, albeit one that was subsumed by a larger text that included the author's more famous Gulliver's Travels. I took the paperback off the shelf, approached the check-out counter, and handed over four dollars and ninety-five cents.

The journey had begun.