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. It suggests comparison with the work of George Orwell. In these twenty-six pieces, Dr. Dalrymple ranges over literature and ideas, from Shakespeare to Marx, from the breakdown of Islam to the legalization of drugs. Informed by years of medical practice in a wide variety of settings, his acquaintance with the outer limits of human experience allows him to discover the universal in the local and the particular, and makes him impatient with the humbug and obscurantism that have too long marred our social and political life. As in Life at the Bottom, his essays are incisive yet undogmatic, beautifully composed and devoid of disfiguring jargon. Our Culture, What's Left of It is a book that restores our faith in the central importance of literature and criticism to our civilization.
Theodore Dalrymple is a British doctor and writer who has worked on four continents and now practices in a British inner-city hospital and a prison. He has written a column for the London Spectator for thirteen years and is a contributing editor for City Journal in the United States. His earlier collection of essays, Life at the Bottom, was widely praised.
What People are Saying About This
Richard Davenport-Hines
"Urgent, important, almost an essential book." —Times Literary Supplement
Johannes L. Jacobse
"It's rare to find such a morally coherent, historically informed and human account as Our Culture, What's Left of It." —Rev., Town Hall
Peggy Noonan
Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams.
Roger Kimball
"Theodore Dalrymple is the Edmund Burke of our age.... Our Culture, What's Left of It is not simply an important book, it is a necessary one."
Paul Hollander
"Dalrymple has succeeded (once more) in publishing a book that is both thoughtful and absorbing." —New York Sun
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
"Dalrymple has acquired a following on the sarcastic right; if anything, the thoughtful left should be reading him." —NewStatesman.com
Andrew Martin
"Penetrating analysis and literary eloquence make the book a worthy read for anyone concerned with the fate of civilization. " —Courier-Journal
Norman Stone
"...There is so much learning and unconventional wisdom in it that you want to make the reading last."
Randy Boyagoda
"Theodore Dalrymple makes a devastating diagnosis of liberalism's recent ills." —Globe and Mail
Brothersjudd.com
"Ridiculously prolific and a favorite of bloggers.... He’s one of the very best social critics of our age."
