Our Culture, What's Left Of It
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Review
"Dalrymple is a writer of genius: lucid, unsentimental, and profoundly honest.... He is one of the great essayists of our age."-Denis Dutton, Arts and Letters. "An urgent, important, almost an essential book...elegantly written, conscientiously argued, provocative, and fiercely committed."-Richard Davenport-Hines, Times Literary Supplement. "His gift for storytelling will keep readers turning pages."-Christian Century. "Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams."-Peggy Noonan."
Product Description
This new collection of essays by the author of "Life at the Bottom", bears the unmistakable stamp of Theodore Dalrymple's bracingly clearsighted view of the human condition. In these pieces, Dr. Dalrymple ranges over literature and ideas, from Shakespeare to Marx, from the breakdown of Islam to the legalization of drugs. Here is a book that restores our faith in the central importance of literature and criticism to our civilization. Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams and Peggy Noonan. His work includes "When Islam Breaks Down", named the best journal article of 2004 by David Brooks of the "New York Times".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
158 of 174 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The first part of this brilliant collection of essays deals with art and literary criticism, whilst the second explores politics and the state of society. The thread that binds them is the cultural and moral decline of Western civilization.
The wide ranging topics encompass inter alia Princess Diana, Shakespeare, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, the crassness of popular culture, the underclass in the UK, the legalisation of drugs and Muslim communities in the West.
With breathtaking eloquence and impressive insight, Dalrymple analyses these miscellaneous but interwoven subjects. His observations are interspersed by anecdotes from his experiences as a medical practitioner.
He blames the intellectual elites for much of the decay in the quality of life, arts and culture. In no small part this flows from their moral relativism and their denial of the existence of good and evil.
These liberal elites are quick to hail all forms of transgression while worshipping a twisted concept of tolerance and denying vice. Their hysterical insistence on "understanding" is becoming increasingly loud, but their relativism is remarkably selective. In extreme cases, it results in the total inversion of good and evil.
Thus we get the absurdity of political correctness. But PC is not only absurd, it is sinister too: assenting to untruth is to condone evil. It is easy to control a society of powerless liars.
The author's comparison of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell on the one side (constructive), with Virginia Woolf and DH Lawrence (destructive and foolish) is particularly thought provoking.
Dalrymple points out how an eerie silence results when for example, the feminist piety meets the piety of multiculturalism, like the reaction of Western Leftists when confronted with gender apartheid in the Third World. They simply ignore it.
He identifies the cause of much of the present mindset as an unholy alliance between libertarians who claim consumer choice as the ultimate answer, and leftists who believe that people have rights but no responsibilities.
Although the book deals with many unpleasant subjects, Dalrymple's insights are original and phrased in awesome prose. The book left me with a feeling of sadness, and a line from Leonard Cohen's song The Land Of Plenty came to mind: "For what's left of our religion, I bow my head and pray ..."
Having digested this gem, the interested reader might also wish to investigate The Dragons of Expectation by Robert Conquest, The West And The Rest by Roger Scruton, Intellectual Morons by Daniel Flynn and The New Thought Police by Tammy Bruce.
The wide ranging topics encompass inter alia Princess Diana, Shakespeare, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, the crassness of popular culture, the underclass in the UK, the legalisation of drugs and Muslim communities in the West.
With breathtaking eloquence and impressive insight, Dalrymple analyses these miscellaneous but interwoven subjects. His observations are interspersed by anecdotes from his experiences as a medical practitioner.
He blames the intellectual elites for much of the decay in the quality of life, arts and culture. In no small part this flows from their moral relativism and their denial of the existence of good and evil.
These liberal elites are quick to hail all forms of transgression while worshipping a twisted concept of tolerance and denying vice. Their hysterical insistence on "understanding" is becoming increasingly loud, but their relativism is remarkably selective. In extreme cases, it results in the total inversion of good and evil.
Thus we get the absurdity of political correctness. But PC is not only absurd, it is sinister too: assenting to untruth is to condone evil. It is easy to control a society of powerless liars.
The author's comparison of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell on the one side (constructive), with Virginia Woolf and DH Lawrence (destructive and foolish) is particularly thought provoking.
Dalrymple points out how an eerie silence results when for example, the feminist piety meets the piety of multiculturalism, like the reaction of Western Leftists when confronted with gender apartheid in the Third World. They simply ignore it.
He identifies the cause of much of the present mindset as an unholy alliance between libertarians who claim consumer choice as the ultimate answer, and leftists who believe that people have rights but no responsibilities.
Although the book deals with many unpleasant subjects, Dalrymple's insights are original and phrased in awesome prose. The book left me with a feeling of sadness, and a line from Leonard Cohen's song The Land Of Plenty came to mind: "For what's left of our religion, I bow my head and pray ..."
Having digested this gem, the interested reader might also wish to investigate The Dragons of Expectation by Robert Conquest, The West And The Rest by Roger Scruton, Intellectual Morons by Daniel Flynn and The New Thought Police by Tammy Bruce.
71 of 78 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Theodore Dalrymple is a top-notch commentator and a gifted essayist. The articles featured here represent some of his best and most recent writings. The volume is divided into two major sections: arts and letters, and society and politics.
He introduces this collection of essays with this line: "The fragility of civilization is one of the great lessons of the twentieth century." The line between civilization and barbarism is very thin, and needs to be zealously protected. Yet many of our intellectuals, argues Dalrymple, are either ignorant of the dividing line, or are doing their best to abolish that line altogether.
Generally these intellectual and political elites are of the left. But the right is not immune from such characters: "There has been an unholy alliance between those on the left, who believe that man is endowed with rights but no duties, and libertarians on the right, who believe that consumer choice is the answer to all social questions."
While civilisation must have its critics, it must also have its defenders and preservers as well. Dalrymple takes on the many critics of civilization, especially those of the utopian variety, who believe that an untried ideal is always better than a flawed but tried reality.
The cultural despisers and civilization corrupters are many within the field of literature and the arts. From Virginia Woolf to Versace, Dalrymple examines a number of leading figures who have left a legacy of destruction and despair. Much of what passes for art, fashion or literature today is simply an exercise in bashing the West and the championing of hedonism, nihilism and barbarism.
His chapters on society and politics are especially of interest. He covers topics as diverse as the problems of Islam, the sexualisation of society, the death of childhood and mass murderers. Most of these chapters are minor classics in their own right. His chapter on the folly of legalising drugs is a small masterpiece of social commentary, logical thought and fluid prose.
Part of the reason for Dalrymple's accurate and acute observations of the decrepit condition of much of modern life is the fact that he also a doctor. He has worked for many years in hospitals, prisons, and other social hot spots. He has witnessed first hand the tragic results of our social engineers and their distorted vision of reality. Both in the UK and overseas, he has encountered first hand the bitter fruit of dying civilizations.
His incisive and clearly penned assessments of the decline of Western culture are a much-needed antidote to the utopianism and elitism of so many of our social spin doctors. His writings are as important and prophetic as they are skilfully crafted.
He introduces this collection of essays with this line: "The fragility of civilization is one of the great lessons of the twentieth century." The line between civilization and barbarism is very thin, and needs to be zealously protected. Yet many of our intellectuals, argues Dalrymple, are either ignorant of the dividing line, or are doing their best to abolish that line altogether.
Generally these intellectual and political elites are of the left. But the right is not immune from such characters: "There has been an unholy alliance between those on the left, who believe that man is endowed with rights but no duties, and libertarians on the right, who believe that consumer choice is the answer to all social questions."
While civilisation must have its critics, it must also have its defenders and preservers as well. Dalrymple takes on the many critics of civilization, especially those of the utopian variety, who believe that an untried ideal is always better than a flawed but tried reality.
The cultural despisers and civilization corrupters are many within the field of literature and the arts. From Virginia Woolf to Versace, Dalrymple examines a number of leading figures who have left a legacy of destruction and despair. Much of what passes for art, fashion or literature today is simply an exercise in bashing the West and the championing of hedonism, nihilism and barbarism.
His chapters on society and politics are especially of interest. He covers topics as diverse as the problems of Islam, the sexualisation of society, the death of childhood and mass murderers. Most of these chapters are minor classics in their own right. His chapter on the folly of legalising drugs is a small masterpiece of social commentary, logical thought and fluid prose.
Part of the reason for Dalrymple's accurate and acute observations of the decrepit condition of much of modern life is the fact that he also a doctor. He has worked for many years in hospitals, prisons, and other social hot spots. He has witnessed first hand the tragic results of our social engineers and their distorted vision of reality. Both in the UK and overseas, he has encountered first hand the bitter fruit of dying civilizations.
His incisive and clearly penned assessments of the decline of Western culture are a much-needed antidote to the utopianism and elitism of so many of our social spin doctors. His writings are as important and prophetic as they are skilfully crafted.
118 of 131 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Dalrymple (a nom de plume) analyses the anomie that has overtaken British culture(what little that is left of it) and attributes the decline of public and private morals to a combination of the ever growing power of the intellectual liberal left and the perverse generosity of the welfare state to those who are least deserving. The brilliance of his social observations, made while working as a prison psychiatrist (possibly in Birmingham- although that is never made explicit) and his currently unmatched skill as an essayist combine to give his writing a unique power and perspective. He has a huge following in the USA and chooses to publish his work there, which may explain why there are so few reviews on this site, compared to the scores on amazon.com.
Reading the British newspapers one comes across examples of the behaviors and life styles he describes every day of the week. Life at the bottom (the title of Dalrymple's other superb collection of essays) really is like that. Britain is now a crime ridden country where drugs and single parenthood/desertion are the lifestyle choice of most of our inner city dwellers whatever their racial origins. How has this come to pass in 50 years since the end of WWII, when Britain had the lowest crime rate and the highest employment rate in its history? No doubt the dystopian effects of welfare and the no-blame culture bear a high degree of responsibility; but I beg to suggest that Dalrymple does not give enough weight to the overwhelming, rapid and now total decline of mass employment opportunities in British manufacturing, which has now died so completely that we employ more people as museum attendants than we do in factories. Is his attribution of power to the leftist elite a kind of conspiracy theory? Well- maybe not; I for one choose not to make my name known as author of this review, since- being a prominent member of Dalrymple's profession still working in the UK I do not wish to come out just yet.
Read this book and despair. Then make plans to emigrate.
PS I asked TD himself at book launch about the decline in manufacturing as a contributor and he stuck to his line that it is the liberal left who have done most to destroy our society. At the time I found his response convincing but in retrospect still think that industrial collapse has a part to play. Discussions below about the Asian invasion are peripheral to the main thrust of the book which is emphatically not racist or anti immigration per se. Dalrymple has nothing but praise for the Asian family life values in contrast to their near total loss in the native underclass.
Reading the British newspapers one comes across examples of the behaviors and life styles he describes every day of the week. Life at the bottom (the title of Dalrymple's other superb collection of essays) really is like that. Britain is now a crime ridden country where drugs and single parenthood/desertion are the lifestyle choice of most of our inner city dwellers whatever their racial origins. How has this come to pass in 50 years since the end of WWII, when Britain had the lowest crime rate and the highest employment rate in its history? No doubt the dystopian effects of welfare and the no-blame culture bear a high degree of responsibility; but I beg to suggest that Dalrymple does not give enough weight to the overwhelming, rapid and now total decline of mass employment opportunities in British manufacturing, which has now died so completely that we employ more people as museum attendants than we do in factories. Is his attribution of power to the leftist elite a kind of conspiracy theory? Well- maybe not; I for one choose not to make my name known as author of this review, since- being a prominent member of Dalrymple's profession still working in the UK I do not wish to come out just yet.
Read this book and despair. Then make plans to emigrate.
PS I asked TD himself at book launch about the decline in manufacturing as a contributor and he stuck to his line that it is the liberal left who have done most to destroy our society. At the time I found his response convincing but in retrospect still think that industrial collapse has a part to play. Discussions below about the Asian invasion are peripheral to the main thrust of the book which is emphatically not racist or anti immigration per se. Dalrymple has nothing but praise for the Asian family life values in contrast to their near total loss in the native underclass.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An unresolved dilemma
It seems to me that there is a very basic, unresolved contradiction in current 'conservative' thinking. Read more
Published 6 days ago by J Payne
Important issues, but spoiled by the authors intellectual snobbery.
This could have been an excellent book covering many serious critical issues that must be resolved within our society, but instead of a balanced overview,and in depth, approach, he... Read more
Published 4 months ago by G. Hodgson
Pure Genius
If there is only one book you ever read again in your life (having already read the complete works of Jane Austen and PG Wodehouse of course and obviously 'The Great Gatsby'and 'At... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Tjlondon
Fascinating
This chap is clearly of the HARD RIGHT and I am apolitical, yet I enjoyed this. It affected my views on our insipid, childish and morally rudderless culture. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Marty
Simply brilliant.
Fascinating and entertaining. An erudite look at the problems of today, but never preaching. A great way to while away a lazy afternoon. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Annoyed
Magical Mushrooms and the Flabby Truth!
Theodore Dalrymple is big in Holland. Now what does that tell us? That we Brits are in serious decline and that the Dutch psyche, powered by psychedelic mushrooms, can easily slip... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Halifax Student Account
Grim but essential reading
This collection of evil covers disparate topics but what unites them all is the author's search for the foundation of culture and civilisation coupled with his observations as to... Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by Aquinas
Questions without answers
Very well written with well crafted essays but also an overwhelming sense of smug superiority. Dalrymple has little time for much of what most modern Western democracies and... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by G. Findlay
Dr Daniels over-eggs his pudding
The essays in this book are decidedly mixed: Dalrymple's arguments about the debilitating effects of the welfare state are utterly compelling. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2008 by T. Burkard
Whose culture?
I bought this book predominantly because of the star ratings given to it on this site, but on reading it I was very disapointed. Read more
Published on 5 July 2008 by J. Viles
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