Publisher's Synopsis
A Modest Proposal and Other Satires contains six satirical pieces, the most famous being "A Modest Proposal," in which Swift ironically suggests that the people of Ireland should eat their young. A Tale of A Tub, a religious satire, is the longest piece in the work; not only does Swift parody the three Western branches of Christianity (their history, their excesses their hypocrisy), but he also parodies trends in literary, philosophical, and medical thought. A father, representing God, has three sons, each representing one of the branches. They work hard to reinterpret their father's will in order to get the results they want as they spruce up their coats, until finally it is time for reform and the difficult task of undoing the baubles caught up in the coats.
