HOLDING UP A MIRROR: How Civilisations Decline
By Anne Glyn-Jones
Century. 650 pages. £20.00
ISBN 0 7126 7633 3
A 76 year-old spinster living quietly on the outskirts of Exeter has emerged as a leading expert on the social forces underpinning modern Western civilisation. She believes our society is in its 'struggling on phase', and is doomed to collapse because it is increasingly driven by materialistic values and 'the hunger for pleasure'. Former Western Morning News news editor Alex Alexander reviews her 1996 book, Holding up a Mirror - How Civilisations Decline.
The end is probably nigh, if you accept the arguments advanced by a Devon pensioner who in her time has been a counter-espionage officer and personal assistant to Harold ('you've never had it so good') Macmillan.
