SOURCE: Carr, Raymond. “Morality Is Unspeakable.” Spectator 274, no. 8705 (13 May 1995): 43-4.

In the following review of The De-Moralization of Society, Carr discusses Himmelfarb's perspective on Victorian moral virtues.

This [The De-Moralization of Society] is a tract for our times written by a distinguished historian with a rare gift for clear and elegant exposition. Its polemical intent is clear. It is published by the Institute of Economic Affairs, the free market think tank; Lady Thatcher, as a defender of the Victorian family values of hard work, self-reliance and living within one's income, rates more references than any other public figure, alive or dead.

Neil Kinnock thought he had rebutted Lady Thatcher's Victorian revivalism by asserting ‘the Victorian values that ruled were cruelty, squalor and ignorance’. It is Kinnock who is ignorant, in presenting this travesty of Victorianism. He confuses moral values with social realities. Professor Himmelfarb is well aware of...