A Modest Proposal: A Plan for the Golden Years (Melville Manifestos) - Softcover

In this scathingly funny satire, one of France’s leading philosophers observes that modern society is burdened by numerous questions of how to care for the elderly. How to pay for their staggering medical bills? How to ensure their conscientious treatment? How to simply house them all? It’s more than the resources of our culture can handle, says Régis Debray—and it’s making life difficult for everyone else. So, he makes a “modest proposal”....

In the great tradition of the irreverent satires of Jonathan Swift, Debray outlines a plan so devilish and absurd that the only response is laughter. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he declares an end to all the world’s problems if we would only do this one little thing—something a corrupt culture may already be doing anyway.

French philosopher Régis Debray, author of the classic rebel primer Revolution in the Revolution, first gained fame when he was captured with Che Guevara in 1967, and was only released after the intervention of Charles de Gaulle. He subsequently was an advisor to the French President Francois Mitterand, and has written numerous books on philosophy, politics, and art criticism.