Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
The Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society was founded in 1883 to promote the study of the history of Lancashire and Cheshire. Its scope includes archaeology (both traditional and industrial), economic and social history, architecture and the arts, and folklore. Its range extends from antiquity to the more recent past. Membership is open to all.
Theodore Dalrymple
Two new books from this prolific writer.
An Englishman's Home…: … Is His Car Park - Indifference as a Way of Life
How did Britain become a nation seemingly resigned to its own indifference? In this sharp and entertaining critique, Theodore Dalrymple dissects the cultural decline through a series of observations of everyday slovenliness. From the paved-over front gardens that become car parks to the carelessness toward civic beauty, Dalrymple argues that a collective affection for what is held in common is eroding the nation's spirit. This book is a humorous, and sometimes acerbic, examination of modern Britain's peculiar ailment and how to restore civic pride and end performative behaviour.
Agatha Christie and the Metaphysics of Murder: Agatha Christie as Philosopher
The twentieth-century literary critic Edmund Wilson chided Agatha Christie for her “mawkishness and banality” and declared her work “literally impossible to read.” Even if this were so, that Agatha Christie’s books were mere trash of no intellectual substance whatever, the fact that they were (and are) of such worldwide appeal might be worth investigating. How is it that books whose action takes place in a social milieu so completely alien to that of the vast majority of mankind were nevertheless able to capture their imagination? Does this not suggest some skill on the part of the author? Agatha Christie and the Metaphysics of Murder investigates the philosophy behind the Queen of Crime’s bestselling books, arriving at conclusions that will surprise readers who might dismiss them as lightweight fluff.