First and Last Things

by Richard Hoggart

Richard Hoggart does not pretend to have any easy answers, but he is not afraid to address the big the problem (as he finds it) of faith; the mysterious origins of conscience and its impact upon our conduct; the nature of society and class in an age of triumphal capitalism; the importance of family and friends; the value of literature and, in conclusion, the nature of memory and the need, in old age, to find some value in existence.
First and Last Things is a work that the young should read, if only to discover how much there is still to understand, and that the old will treasure.

249 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Babs]

There is a beauty in the thought that our constant sense of unfinishedness, of falling short, of being alienated from something other and better, is the best evidence we have that we are indeed fallen, cut off from something we endlessly regret losing.