Our Culture, What's Left of It - by Theodore Dalrymple (Paperback)

About the Book

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 breakd...

Book Synopsis

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."-Peggy Noonan. Includes "When Islam Breaks Down," named the best journal article of 2004 by David Brooks of the New York Times.

Review Quotes

[This book] depicts the crucial problems in western culture in beautifully rich prose.

A clear-eyed assessment of the human condition at the beginning of the 21st century.

An unexpectedly moving illustration.

Another classic book...by Theodore Dalrymple.

Dalrymple has acquired a following on the sarcastic right; if anything, the thoughtful left should be reading him."

Dalrymple is able to say things with an authority few have.

Dalrymple paints a chilling portrait of what is happening these days in France.

Dalrymple writes a clear and considered prose that makes him formidable indeed.

Dalrymple's moral courage shines through the most. Compelling reading; highly recommended.

Engrossing. Dalrymple is intelligent, witty, uncommonly perceptive about human affairs, and scathingly honest about human folly.

His gift for storytelling will keep readers turning pages.

Insightful....[Dalrymple is a] profound British social critic.

It's rare for someone to produce a work on social issues that is so readable.

It's rare to find such a morally coherent, historically informed and human account as Our Culture, What's Left of It.

Penetrating analysis and literary eloquence make the book a worthy read for anyone concerned with the fate of civilization.

Read the words of a man who has been on the street...who brings a vast intelligence to his conclusions.

Ridiculously prolific and a favorite of bloggers.... He's one of the very best social critics of our age.

Striking. Most collections of essays are lackluster affairs, but Dalrymple's is an exception.

Surgically incisive essays by a British psychiatrist who deserves to be considered the George Orwell of the right.

Terrific.... Dalrymple is direct and his judgments are so true.

The book is elegantly written, conscientiously argued, provocative and fiercely committed...measured polemics arouse disgust, shame and despair: they will shake many readers' views of their physical surroundings and cultural assumptions, and have an enriching power to improve the way that people think and act.

The brutal, penetrating honesty of his thinking and the vividness of his prose make Theodore Dalrymple the George Orwell of our time.

The manner in which Dalrymple wields his critical scalpel fixes our attention...he makes no promise to fix our condition.

The sobering, fiery and ominous truth.

Theodore Dalrymple has succeeded (once more) in publishing a book that is both thoughtful and absorbing.

Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams.

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.

Theodore Dalrymple makes a devastating diagnosis of liberalism's recent ills.

There is so much learning and unconventional wisdom in it that you want to make the reading last.

These bracing essays horrify, irritate, enlighten, amuse. They also stir you to remember, as Dalrymple puts it, what we have to lose.

This highly intelligent and perceptive writer never hesitates to 'tell it like it is'.

Whether you find Dalrymple refreshing or infuriating will depend on your political point of view. Dalrymple calls them as he sees them, and there is not an ounce of political correctness in him.

About the Author

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.