An abridged edition of "The Great Melody" which was first published in 1992 and is a thematic biography and commented anthology of Edmund Burke. This celebration of Burke's lifelong struggle against the abuse of power incorporates both Burke's ideas on the American and French revolutions, as well as his debates on Catholic emancipation and the abolition of the slave trade. O'Brien also attempts to show the Namierite view on Burke as a fallacy.