Life at the Bottom: The Worldview that Makes the Underclass 25th Anniversary Edition

About the Book

Now in a 25th anniversary edition, featuring a foreword from bestselling author Rob Henderson of the Manhattan Institute and a new postscript from Theodore Dalrymple.

As a British psychiatrist who treated the poor in a slum hospital and a prison in England, Theodore Dalrymple had seemingly seen it all. Yet, in listening to and observing his patients, he has been continually astonished by the latest twist of depravity that exceeds even his own considerable experience. Dalrymple's key insight in Life at the Bottom is that long-term poverty is caused not by economics but by a dysfunctional set of values, one that is continually reinforced by an elite culture searching for victims. This culture persuades those at the bottom that they have no responsibility for their actions and are not the molders of their own lives. Drawn from the pages of the cutting-edge political and cultural quarterly City Journal, Dalrymple's book draws upon scores of eye-opening, true-life vignettes that are by turns hilariously funny, chillingly horrifying, and all too revealing--sometimes all at once. And Dalrymple writes in prose that transcends journalism and achieves the quality of literature.

About the Author

Theodore Dalrymple is a retired physician and psychiatrist who worked in a general hospital and prison in England. He wrote a weekly column in the Spectator about his experiences for 14 years and has written widely on other subjects. Among other books, he has written Admirable Evasions: How Psychology Undermines Morality and Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy. He is contributing editor of the City Journal of New York.

Praise

“A classic for our times. It is as fundamental for understanding the world we live in as the three R's.” ―Thomas Sowell

“Truthful-therefore morally courageous and intellectually rigorous.”―Norman Podhoretz

“Dalrymple's vivid writing and often heartbreaking stories rise above his deeply felt social analysis.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Brilliant social analysis...a master chronicle of life at the bottom.” ―Hilton Kramer

“Lucid, unsentimental, and profoundly honest. . . . Dalrymple is one of the great essayists of our age.” ―Denis Dutton

“It is a truism that ideas have consequences, but a truism is rarely illustrated as implacably as in this book.” ―George F. Will

“Theodore Dalrymple is the best doctor-writer since William Carlos Williams.” ―Peggy Noonan

“A landmark experience is reading Life at the Bottom." ―Detroit Free Press

“Once in a long while a writer comes along with a vision so powerful that it shakes you. Theodore Dalrymple is that kind of writer.” ―Bruce Ramsey, Liberty Press