In this perceptive and witty book, Theodore Dalrymple unmasks the sentimentality that is suffocating modern life. Under the multiple guises of raising children well, caring for the under-privileged, fighting poverty, assisting the less able, and doing good generally, we are achieving quite the opposite. Drawing on his long experience as a doctor, as well as work with thousands of criminals and the mentally disturbed as a prison psychiatrist, Dalrymple shows what happens if we feel our way rather than think well.