Life at the Bottom

The Worldview that Makes the Underclass

By: Theodore Dalrymple

Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart

Here is a searing account - probably the best yet published - of life in the underclass and why it persists as it does.

Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist who treats the poor in a slum hospital and a prison in England, has seemingly seen it all. Yet in listening to and observing his patients, he is 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.

©2001 Theodore Dalrymple (P)2021 Tantor

Pure, unadulterated Truth

Excellent book written by an intellectual man who has spent his life in the proverbial trenches. Must read.

Reality check

What’s obvious to him is everywhere now, and if not stopped, the western civilization as we know it would collapse just like the Roman Empire

Amazing and unsettling book!

This should be mandatory reading for all incoming high school students! It might not chart the course for success but it definitely outlines the hallmarks of failure!

one of my favs, but hardly likable

hardcore russian-style self-directed national criticism, thought I've heard enough of such to ever find any appeal in variations, but this bespoke of such subjects from a standpoint of plain common sense that is simultaneously extremely depressing and motivating

Brutally honest

Brutally honest, but incredibly insightful. Amazing I was written 20 years ago because it is so applicable to today.