I highly recommend the Oxford World’s Classic edition, edited by J.P. Hardy. The introductory material is quite helpful, and the extensive footnotes, further explaining the text, are a valuable gateway to many of Dr. Johnson’s writings in Rambler and Adventurer, writings where he further pursued topics raised in this book.

Rasselas lives in a garden paradise—his every need is provided for by his father, the King, who has sent his four children to live in Happy Valley, a beautiful valley, a Garden of Eden, from which there is no known escape, until they are called to rule through the line of succession.

After years of having his every wish fulfilled, Rasselas grows dissatisfied—there is no challenge or deep satisfaction in merely waiting for others to die so he can be King. Rasselas wants more. He doesn’t know life beyond the mountain. The Prince recruits his teacher, his sister, and her companion. Rasselas sets his goal to leave Happy Valley, and then he discovers his means of escape.

He plans to travel the world; to seek out the wise and the learned; to study humanity. Along the way Rasselas and his friends enquire and learn about the human condition: misfortune, desire, corruption, curiosity, loneliness, insanity and the loss of reason. They also consider other questions when making a choice of life: the business of a man of letters; the importance of novelty in a life well-lived; the greatness of a nation as measured by the completeness of her poets; the importance of a desire of knowledge; that the old is valuable because: “what has been longest known has been most considered, and what is most considered is best understood.”  

Their travels take them to Cairo, and they visit a number of places, including the pyramids, and meet many people on their journey, giving them an opportunity to talk to others who have made their choice of life. They meet the married and the single man; what about the choice of a married life? They meet the recluse; what about the choice of a life of seclusion? They visit the great pyramids of Egypt, and learn about the folly of man. They spend time with the astronomer; a man who has spent his life studying the stars. He has lived the life of the hedgehog, learning deeply about star knowledge. How does he feel about his choice of life versus the man who learns about self knowledge?

Dr. Johnson wrote: “The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.” He also understood that “hope was necessary in every condition,” but warns us as he begins his tale:

Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and persue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of Rasselas prince of Abissinia.

I recommend you travel with Rasselas and his friends; enjoy their journey, their hopes, and their search for the choice of life. 

Dalrymple’s collected essays display an ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize the evidence presented in support of his thesis in a clear and compelling manner. He communicates his wisdom, about the past, present, and future, in a straight forward highly readable style.

Displaying a high-level of intellectual curiosity as demonstrated by the extensive range of books he folds into his analysis, and a diverse array of life experiences marshaled in support of his insights, these timely essays raise issues in the news today. They are especially relevant for Americans wondering what “change” we might see should we become more like England with a stronger central government, a government reaching into all aspects of our lives while continually expanding the size of the groups totally reliant on it.

These essays support the overarching theme announced in the subtitle—The Politics and Culture of Decline. Dr. Dalrymple, a clear-eyed observer of the British scene, persuasively argues in his preface:

These essays cover the gambit of cultural and political topics. Part I, “Artists and Ideologues” includes essays discussing the importance of language (“The Gift of Language”); character (“What Makes Dr. Johnson Great?); marriage (Ibsen and His Discontents); and religion (What the New Atheists Don’t See). Part II, “Politics and Culture” covers such issues as: individual responsibility(Real Crime, Fake Justice); the qualities of the British character weakened, corroded, even destroyed, by the corrosive effect of a legislative agenda based on collectivism and political correctness (The Roads to Serfdom, How Not to Do It, and In the Asylum); concluding with the dehumanizing impact upon all drawn into the government’s web of dependency, lies, and capitulation (It’s This Bad and A Murderess’s Tale).

A personal favorite was his analysis of Tony Blair’s performance as Prime Minister in “Delusions of Dishonesty,” an essay that drew a less than flattering profile of Blair’s character, and his leadership style—his “Third Way,” explaining why Tony Blair was “the most unpopular Prime Minister of recent history” when he left office.

This is an essay that draws an unflattering picture of his character—a “tendency to indulge in self-obsession without self-examination;” a political willingness to act contrary to campaign promises; an unwillingness to candidly respond to challenges about actions in conflict with previous statements. “What he said on one day had no necessary connection with what he said on the following day: and if someone pointed out the contradiction, he would use his favorite phrase, ‘It’s time to move on.’”

Dr. Dalrymple is also a contributor to City Journal; and at City Journal’s on-line site there is an archive of over 200 hundred of his essays, including “Delusions of Dishonesty.” I recommend you read this essay if you are interested in the topic and learning more about Dalrymple’s work. This is a book well-worth owning; you will want to mark key passages for future use in discussions with friends.

Other Book Reviews By Buster:

Fifty Days of Solitude: Making Time to Enjoy a Gift of Time

Taking Retirement: A Packed Deck of Lessons

Gaining Perspective about the War against Radical Islamism – Civilization And Its Enemies, by Lee Harris

Patton and The Soul of Battle—The Soul of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson