SOURCE: Bowman, James. Review of The De-Moralization of Society, by Gertrude Himmelfarb. New Criterion 13, no. 7 (March 1995): 79-80.

In the following review, Bowman contends that The De-Moralization of Society is a well-informed and convincingly argued polemic.

The lurking modern presence which haunts Gertrude Himmelfarb's latest exploration of Victoriana [The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values] is that of Margaret Thatcher, who coined the phrase “Victorian values” (as it is generally rendered) in the 1983 British general election campaign. Only Beatrice Webb and John Stuart Mill, each with one index citation more, are mentioned more often than the Iron Lady, and their claim to authority on the subject of Victorian virtues is rather better established. But the former prime minister represents to Miss Himmelfarb the hope that our de-moralized society might somehow be re-moralized along Victorian lines, and her recurring presence thus signals the author's polemical intent.

And...