 John Colvin, writing in the "New Statesman" thought the "barren times" in which we live "have found their ideal chronicler" who "in this clear and uninhibited work, reminds us of the tyranny of the new" and that "it is difficult to contradict his belief that a great nation seems almost to have vanished, its traditions mocked and enfeebled".In "The Spectator", John Redwood wrote that he was "exhilarated" by the book, and that Hitchens had written with "passion and flair".Redwood added that Hitchens was at his best when "exposing the way in which our educational system and cultural standards have been systematically undermined".