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

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 Sowell

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.

Key Insights from Life at the Bottom:

• Long-term poverty is not caused by economics but by a dysfunctional set of values.
• These values are continually reinforced by an elite culture that searches for victims.
• This culture convinces those at the bottom that they bear no responsibility for their actions and are not the molders of their own lives.

What Makes This Book Stand Out:

• Drawn from the pages of the cutting-edge political and cultural quarterly City Journal.
• Packed with scores of eye-opening, true-life vignettes that are:
  • Hilariously funny
  • Chillingly horrifying
  • All too revealing—sometimes all at once
• Written in prose that transcends journalism and achieves the quality of literature.