Not With A Bang But A Whimper
The Politics And Culture Of Decline
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A beautifully-written and thought-provoking collection of essays on social, political and literary issues as diverse as the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand controversy, violent crime on Britain's streets, the effects of the welfare state, modern architecture and the respective merits of Shakespeare and Dr. Johnson.
Dalrymple uses examples from his long career as a prison doctor and his travels to every corner of the globe to illustrate his central view - that Britain is in the throes of social, cultural and political decline.
"Dalrymple is surely a modern master," - The Guardian
"His (Dalrymple's) dispatches from this frontline have always had a tone and a quality entirely their own...I’d recommend the book to anyone with a brain and a heart, of whatever political persuasion.” - The Spectator
"Dalrymple illuminates with great clarity and precision some of the most difficult problems of our times.” - Washington Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this essay collection, British writer Dalrymple (Life at the Bottom) lays out a case for the decline of Western civilization, finding its symptoms lurking in everything from multiculturalism to the "delusions of honesty" by political leaders. Although less of a lovable curmudgeon than plain ferocious in his ire, the author's forays into literary criticism are appealing if amateurish; a former prison doctor, the author is most cogent when on his own beat, analyzing the criminal justice and medical systems. Predictably pessimistic on the political front, the author has sharp words for his fellow Brits ("They are educated by the state, the state provides for them in old age and has made saving unnecessary or, in some cases, actually uneconomic; they are treated and cured by the state... they are housed by the state.... Their choices concern only sex and shopping"). He saves his worst condemnation for Muslims: (" satisfy their sexual needs with prostitutes and those whom they quite openly call 'white sluts' "); his pieces on terrorism and suicide bombers abound with ugly stereotyping from which this otherwise entertaining book never fully recovers.
