Life at the Bottom

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."A classic for our times. It is as fundamental for understanding the world we live in as the three R's." -Thomas SowellAs 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.

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.