A Modest Proposal – An Enhanced Reader’s Edition presents Jonathan Swift’s famous work of political satire alongside newly written material designed to help modern readers understand its historical setting, irony, themes, and rhetorical strategy. First published in 1729, A Modest Proposal uses a deliberately shocking and outrageous argument to expose poverty, inequality, political indifference, and the dehumanizing treatment of the poor in Ireland. Swift’s narrator presents his horrifying proposal in the calm language of economics and practical reform, creating one of the most powerful examples of satire in English literature.