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Nothing But Wickedness
What are the reasons for the decline of our culture? Theodore Dalrymple has spent a lifetime observing it close-up and personal as an inner-city GP and prison psychiatrist. In Nothing But Wickedness he looks at the things that make us behave the way we do, and all the subtle ways in which we delude ourselves and destroy our own culture.
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 28, 2025
About the author
Theodore Dalrymple
98 books640 followersAnthony Malcolm Daniels, who generally uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, is an English writer and retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in the east end of London. Before his retirement in 2005, he worked in City Hospital, Birmingham and Winson Green Prison in inner-city Birmingham, England.
Daniels is a contributing editor to City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, where he is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow. In addition to City Journal, his work has appeared in The British Medical Journal, The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Salisbury Review, National Review, and Axess magasin.
In 2011, Dalrymple received the 2011 Freedom Prize from the Flemish think tank Libera!.
Daniels is a contributing editor to City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, where he is the Dietrich Weismann Fellow. In addition to City Journal, his work has appeared in The British Medical Journal, The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Salisbury Review, National Review, and Axess magasin.
In 2011, Dalrymple received the 2011 Freedom Prize from the Flemish think tank Libera!.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 18, 2026
Theodore Dalrymple is one of those rare writers whose "minor" works are still better than most authors' masterpieces. Nothing but Wickedness isn't his strongest book, but even when he's not at the height of his powers, he provokes, startles, and—most importantly—makes me think.
This collection of essays ranges widely across medicine, history, literature, culture, politics, and morality. Dalrymple has an uncanny ability to expose fashionable assumptions by simply following them to their logical conclusion. He is never content with easy answers or sentimental narratives. Whether writing about Florence Nightingale's carefully cultivated reputation, Britain's charity shops, or Tolstoy's observations on intoxication, he repeatedly asks us to distinguish between appearances and reality. On Florence Nightingale, he wrote:
“One of the great works of historical debunking is F B Smith’s, Florence Nightingale: Reputation and Power, published in 1982.
Within a short space, one learns that the Lady with the Lamp was a consummate liar: Miss Nightingale’s account of her good works at the Middlesex Hospital constitute a memorable example of her powers as a titillating fabulist.
Miss Nightingale rejected the germ theory of disease, arguing that, if accepted, it would impair her sanitary work.
She insisted to the end of her days on dirt and miasma as the cause of disease, rejecting contagion altogether; she opposed smallpox vaccination in India; and she never grasped that the germ theory of disease was actually compatible with sanitary reform. She was what would now be called a brilliant spin doctor.”
One recurring theme struck me: our tendency to romanticize people and institutions. Dalrymple reminds us that someone can do enormous good while possessing serious moral flaws, and that recognizing those flaws doesn't diminish the good they accomplished. That's a level of intellectual honesty increasingly absent from public discourse.
As always, his prose is elegant, concise, and often wickedly funny. He can compress more insight into a paragraph than many writers manage in an entire chapter.
Even so, Dalrymple remains one of my favorite contemporary essayists because he refuses to flatter his readers. He demands that we think more carefully, judge more honestly, and resist the comforting illusions of our age. That's a service in short supply.
Memorable
"There is no pleasure greater than to denounce the wickedness of the times, and since the times are always wicked the pleasure is inexhaustible."
"Concision (which is next to godliness)."
Tolstoy's answer to why people seek intoxication: they do so "to quieten or suppress their conscience." A timeless insight that extends far beyond alcohol.
"Nothing is new under the sun." Dalrymple repeatedly reminds us that many of our supposedly unprecedented cultural problems have deep historical roots.
“We are often better served by debunking our heroes than by destroying them. Mature judgment recognizes that great achievements and serious moral failings can coexist in the same person.”
This collection of essays ranges widely across medicine, history, literature, culture, politics, and morality. Dalrymple has an uncanny ability to expose fashionable assumptions by simply following them to their logical conclusion. He is never content with easy answers or sentimental narratives. Whether writing about Florence Nightingale's carefully cultivated reputation, Britain's charity shops, or Tolstoy's observations on intoxication, he repeatedly asks us to distinguish between appearances and reality. On Florence Nightingale, he wrote:
“One of the great works of historical debunking is F B Smith’s, Florence Nightingale: Reputation and Power, published in 1982.
Within a short space, one learns that the Lady with the Lamp was a consummate liar: Miss Nightingale’s account of her good works at the Middlesex Hospital constitute a memorable example of her powers as a titillating fabulist.
Miss Nightingale rejected the germ theory of disease, arguing that, if accepted, it would impair her sanitary work.
She insisted to the end of her days on dirt and miasma as the cause of disease, rejecting contagion altogether; she opposed smallpox vaccination in India; and she never grasped that the germ theory of disease was actually compatible with sanitary reform. She was what would now be called a brilliant spin doctor.”
One recurring theme struck me: our tendency to romanticize people and institutions. Dalrymple reminds us that someone can do enormous good while possessing serious moral flaws, and that recognizing those flaws doesn't diminish the good they accomplished. That's a level of intellectual honesty increasingly absent from public discourse.
As always, his prose is elegant, concise, and often wickedly funny. He can compress more insight into a paragraph than many writers manage in an entire chapter.
Even so, Dalrymple remains one of my favorite contemporary essayists because he refuses to flatter his readers. He demands that we think more carefully, judge more honestly, and resist the comforting illusions of our age. That's a service in short supply.
Memorable
"There is no pleasure greater than to denounce the wickedness of the times, and since the times are always wicked the pleasure is inexhaustible."
"Concision (which is next to godliness)."
Tolstoy's answer to why people seek intoxication: they do so "to quieten or suppress their conscience." A timeless insight that extends far beyond alcohol.
"Nothing is new under the sun." Dalrymple repeatedly reminds us that many of our supposedly unprecedented cultural problems have deep historical roots.
“We are often better served by debunking our heroes than by destroying them. Mature judgment recognizes that great achievements and serious moral failings can coexist in the same person.”
June 3, 2026
He’s a good writer, and I’m glad I read this book, but I feel duped. The description implies the author will be criticizing MODERN society, but he spends the entire book looking at the past, often dipping into the 17th or 18th century. Also, the entire book is a modern doctor’s perspective on the sometimes wicked history of medicine. I didn’t know that going in. As written, the book is 6/10, but given that the author tricked me, it falls drastically. This pisses me off extra because I want to find more books without reading reviews, but snakes like this guy make that a harder task.
April 16, 2026
I enjoy Dalrymple as a writer, but he doesn't really say anything 'new' in this book - if you've read "Our Culture", you've read this book. Doesn't seem like even the cultural references have updated to today
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews