Emily Jones is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Manchester. After completing her DPhil in History at Exeter College, University of Oxford, in 2015, she held positions at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge and Columbia University in New York. Her current research focuses on the development of ideas about C/conservatism and constitutionalism at the turn of the twentieth century.
[Edmund Burke is] the subject of an intriguing, surprisingly accessible study by Emily Jones. --Paul Lay, History Today Best History Books 2017 [This book] is by no means a traditional history of political thought. It is about public discourse in the broadest sense, basing its analysis on a wide variety of printed sources, from political journalism to philosophical treatises to calendars of evening classes. It offers by turns in-depth analyses of pivotal texts and speeches, and wider sampling from reviews, pamphlets, and Hansard. It deals with a topic of obvious importance in a consistently illuminating fashion, aiming to show how established party doctrines and entrenched assumptions rendered certain readings of Burke's ideas particularly persuasive....[A] work of serious scholarship and methodological intent, which opens new doors in the study of political reputations. And at the absolute least, it must force historians to abandon their long-standing reflexive recourse to the adjective 'Burkean' in writing on modern British politics. --Alex Middleton, Journal of British Studies Jones...show[s] that Burke has much to offer readers grappling with their own situations. --William Anthony Hay, Modern Age However, if Burke is not the founder of modern conservatism, then when, why, and how was it invented? In particular, how did Burke become so linked with British conservatives? Jones (Cambridge) provides a thorough, fascinating treatment of the question, examining how British historians, politicians, and political theorists understood the work, life, and significance of Burke. Most important, she shows that from the 1890s, Burke's corpus was 'de-contextualized' and his principles were 'gradually extracted, ' forming an interpretation of 'Burke as C/conservative' and the 'invention' of modern conservatism. Jones's book is an illuminating, timely, important contribution to scholarship....Highly recommended. --CHOICE The power of Jones's analysis lies in the skill with which she shows how 'perceived similarities' dominate so much intellectual history and how, consequently, they misinform our understanding of the history of ideologies...[A] vital contribution --Richard Bourke, Literary Review [A] fascinating story --Tony Barber, Financial Times Summer Books 2017