Peter Hitchens

Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens has written a number of excellent books charting the decline of Britain and the British way of life. His first book, published in 1999, was The Abolition of Britain, which was the start of a series examining the cultural, social and moral revolution which has transformed the country since 1950. His latest book, The Phoney Victory, challenges the many myths which have grown up around the Second World War. Mr Hitchens questions whether September 1939 was the right time to start the conflict, and indeed whether the fate of Poland was the right pretext.

Peter Hitchens’ Amazon page

Dr Jordan B Peterson

Clinical psychologist and philosopher Professor Jordan Peterson shot to national fame in his home country of Canada when he braved the wrath of academia and the forces of “woke” and spoke out against the appalling decision to write compelled speech into Canadian law. He nearly lost his job as a result but by then was becoming so well known and so highly regarded, his employers, the University of Toronto, had to back down. But arguably it was his fiery Channel 4 interview with journalist Cathy Newman which rocketed him to worldwide fame. Not many philosophers can claim celebrity status within their own lifetimes but it’s richly deserved. Jordan B Peterson must count as one of the greatest thinkers of our times and has proved a salvation to many people, especially rudderless young men, who have taken inspiration and comfort in his writings and YouTube lectures. His latest book is a sequel to his bestseller 12 Rules for Life - Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.
Professor Jordan Peterson’s website

Patrick J Buchanan

Warning: Books by Pat Buchanan are not for the fainthearted! Mr Buchanan, a respected political commentator and broadcaster, and a former assistant to three US Presidents, writes despairingly but prophetically about the future of the United States. Perhaps his most important book, in light of the recent Presidential election debacle, is Suicide of a Superpower - Will America Survive to 2025? Written over a decade ago, his analysis and warnings have never been more prescient. Pat Buchanan points out that white Americans are hurtling towards minority status, with inevitable consequences both for them and the whole country. It’s a book of foreboding with little cause for optimism but well written by a clearly articulate and well-read man. Tied into the above theme, is his book The Death of the West - How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperial Our Country and Civilization. Again, another desperately gloomy book - but one we in the increasingly fragile West ignore at our peril.

Patrick J Buchanan’s official website

Ed West

We have Ed West to thank for a masterful deconstruction of diversity and multiculturalism. His book, The Diversity Illusion, calmly and gently pierces the fog of propaganda to shine a cold, truthful light on the impact of mass immigration to Britain since the Second World War. With politeness and restraint, Ed West carefully shoots down the key claims made in defence of immigration such as the lie that Britain has “always been a nation of immigrants” and the other favourite, that the economy - especially the NHS - would collapse without it. Ed West is deputy editor of UnHerd - a website which aims to “push back against the herd mentality” and give a voice to opinions ignored by mainstream media.

Ed West’s Amazon page

George Orwell

The great George Orwell needs no introduction, nor do his seminal works 1984 and Animal Farm, which warned of a dystopian future should society ever adopt a Soviet-style system in pursuit egalitarianism.

Yet we should not overlook Orwell’s other writing since there is much material there of ongoing value. Firstly, there are his other novels. He didn’t publish many but they are well worth reading - in part because they are beautifully and vividly written but also because they give an insight into Orwell’s take on the world. A fine novel which not so many people read these days is Keep The Aspidistra Flying. It’s a powerful denunciation of the materialism on which modern society is based - while at the same time noting, ironically, that in order to escape its clutches, one nonetheless needed money.

George Orwell was a regular columnist for news magazines such as The Tribune and also penned numerous essays casting a shrewd and acerbic eye over unfolding political events in the 1930s and 40s. Arguably his finest work is The Road To Wigan Pier which is in two distinct halves. The first describes in remarkably lucid and eloquent terms, working class suffering in the industrial north of England. His account of going down a mine and the experience of taking board and lodgings in a nearby slum house must count as among the finest of their kind in the English language.

Orwell considered himself a socialist and fought on the side of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Yet there was much in him for conservatives also to admire. These days, he is claimed by both the Left and the Right and arguably belongs in different ways, to both sides. It’s not our job to give the Labour Party advice but if they wished to find a way to win back the droves of working-class people who abandoned them under Jeremy Corbyn, they would do well to reflect on the type of socialist Orwell was and the deep love he felt for his country which these days most call the Yookay but which to him was simply, England.

George Orwell’s Amazon page