''Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses'' is a 2005 non-fiction book by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

physician and writer

Theodore Dalrymple Anthony Malcolm Daniels (born 11 October 1949), also known by the pen name Theodore Dalrymple (), is a conservative English cultural critic, prison physician and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in ...

. It is composed of twenty-six separate pieces that cover a wide range of topics from

drug legalisation Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing, legalizing, or repealing laws that prohibit the production, possession, sale, or use of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include drug legalization, drug releg ...

to the influence of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

. A common theme is criticism of modern society in Great Britain and, in many articles, social attitudes towards literature. The book was published by the Ivan R. Dee group. He generally describes British culture as a "moral swamp" and writes that the people must return to past traditions before it is too late.

As a common theme, Dalrymple depicts what he sees as "the moral swamp that is contemporary Britain". He criticises current British national culture as "a banal, self-pitying, witless and shallow emotional incontinence". He advocates a restoration of what he calls traditional British virtues such as "prudence, thrift, industry, honesty, moderation, politeness, self-restraint". He condemns the

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

of British society, writing: He describes his experience treating people who use illegal drugs. He defends the ' war on drugs' and attacks the arguments for

legalisation Legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently not legal. Legalization is a process often applied to what are regarded, by those working towards legalization, as victimless crimes, of which one ...

. He writes, "If the war on drugs is lost, then so are the wars against theft, speeding, incest, fraud, rape, murder, arson... Few, if any such wars are winnable."

Reception

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' published a mostly positive review by author and editor

Richard Davenport-Hines Richard Peter Treadwell Davenport-Hines (born 21 June 1953 in London) is a British historian and literary biographer, and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Davenport-Hines was educated at St Paul's School, London (1967� ...

. Davenport-Hines argued that Dalrymple left out the negative influence of

American culture The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...

on Britain—such as the instant gratification provided on trashy

American television Television is one of the Mass media in the United States, major mass media outlets in the United States. In 2011, 96.7% of households owned television sets; about 114,200,000 American households owned at least one television set each in August ...

and the popularity of unhealthy American fast food. Richard Davenport-Hines also wrote more generally that: A supportive review appeared in ''

News Weekly ''News Weekly'' is an Australian current affairs magazine published by the National Civic Council, a conservative Christian lobby group. Its main headquarters are in Balwyn, Victoria, with offices also in Queensland, New South Wales, Wester ...

'', who stated that "It is rare for a book on social issues to be so readable, but this is not a work of abstract social theory." The review also stated that "The vividness of Dalrymple's prose and the remorseless logic of his arguments make this a formidable work. Anyone concerned about the fate of Western civilisation should read this book."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Culture, What's Left Of It: The Mandarins And The Masses 2005 non-fiction books Essay collections English non-fiction books Books by Theodore Dalrymple

Contents

Reception

See also

References