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The publication of this work is a major event. Louis de Bonald was one of the three principal founders of conservatism, along with Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre. For the first time ever, one of Bonald's books has now been translated into English. Although Bonald was inspired by Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, his approach differs sharply from Burke's. Where Burke is empiricist and conservative, Bonald is rationalist and reactionary.
In his preface, translator Nicholas Davidson argues that Burkean conservatism is incapable of dealing with an increasingly reformed world, and that hence it is Bonald, not Burke, who represents the key philosopher for the coming era. When the conditions of life have substantially been radicalized, tradition no longer provides a basis for resistance, but actually supports radicalism. It is then no longer enough to support tradition: it becomes necessary to analyze and articulate the principles that underlie fundamental social institutions.
For Bonald, human society is constituted of three interactive societies: religious society, domestic society or the family, and public society or the State. These societies, according to Bonald, operate on common principles and can only be analyzed in relation to one another. Since according to his view the family, not the individual, is the basic unit of society, divorce represents a fundamental assault on the social order. Bonald's influence has been felt across the political spectrum and in areas as diverse as political theory, sociology, and literature. The list of Bonald's admirers includes Necker, La Harpe, Chateaubriand, Napoleon, Sainte-Beuve, Lamennais, Saint-Simon, Comte, Proudhon, Maurras, and Balzac.
Of the highest possible interest to students of political philosophy, this work will be of equal value to those concerned with family issues, at a time when divorce has begun to assume a central place among American social questions.
