Debts of Honour

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Debts of Honour is Michael Foot's renowned collection of essays, showcasing his eloquent writing. While he excelled in longer works, such as The Pen and the Sword and his biography of Aneurin Bevan, his essays reveal his sharpest insights. Kenneth Morgan describes the volume as enchanting, highlighting Foot's literary and political heroes, whose categories often merge into a shared aspiration. The collection features fourteen essays on figures like Isaac Foot, William Hazlitt, Benjamin Disraeli, Bertrand Russell, and Jonathan Swift, reflecting a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity that impressed even a young Tony Blair. In 1982, Blair lamented the ignorance of his generation, urging a revival of the radicalism of past thinkers like Hazlitt and Paine. A. J. P. Taylor praises Foot as an enthusiastic essayist who celebrates a diverse array of heroes, from politicians to philosophers, all united by their individualism and rejection of convention. The book is filled with delights, appealing to both the right and left of the political spectrum. Foot's open-mindedness and eclecticism shine through, making him a worthy companion to the figures he admires. Bernard Crick notes that Foot is not just a literate politician but one of the best literary and political essayists, making this collection thoroughly enjoyable.