Book excerpt: This edition of Jonathan Swift's basic works contains the authoritative texts of all his most important prose writings as well as many shorter pieces, poems, and letter extracts. Included are "Gulliver's Travels, Swift's devastating picture of human nature and human foibles; "A Tale of a Tub, his scathing attack on the intellectual culture and religious excesses of his time; "The Battel of the Books, his defense of the classical tradition; and the unforgettable "Modest Proposal, in which he proposes that the Irish, in order to avoid starvation, eat their children.