This hard hitting book explains why people need to commune with tradition and why they should embrace it
The problem with conservatism, said Evelyn Waugh, is that it never turns the clock back. It attempts to preserve the status quo, which would be fine if the status quo was fine and it worked. But a lot of people are unhappy with it they are depressed, dissatisfied, isolated and they are angry. In Stanley's view, civilisations go wrong, they change too fast, too far and throw out the good with the bad. This is a book about what we have lost in the West and how we can rediscover it. The argument for this book works on two levels- utility and beauty. Stanley shows that tradition ritual, hierarchy, codes of behaviour, the concept of sanctity all these were preserved by past societies because they were useful. Traditions are also beautiful because they enhance life and make it worth living. They add colour, identity, they tie us into history and they evoke sacred mysteries of things that exist beyond ourselves.
In short the West must learn from that preservation of the past. Stanley argues for the revival of things that our culture deems reactionary and bad but which the author argues are potentially moral and good. This would include chivalry, gender roles, authority, identity aesthetics and form, rural life and the life of the spirit.
In many European countries church attendance is up. People are reviving old codes of chivalry and sexual ethics disguised as feminism. We are gradually rejecting plastic and eating ethically, which means buying direct from local farmers. We are researching family histories ('Who Do You Think You Are?') and getting to know ourselves through the past. The discussion of these movements and why tradition should be seen as inherently valuable are the subject of this fascinating book.
