The six philosophical essays included here, which vary in length and treatment of style, were written in the late-1970s by John O’Loughlin and reflect a non-Marxist concern with the influence of environment upon culture, not least in respect of literature, music, religion, and knowledge generally. Although the author is not anti-urban per se, he argues that certain types or degrees of urban civilization can be detrimental to spirituality, including the life of the soul, and this, believe it or not, was the basis of ‘The Fall of Love’, which is closer in conception to Spengler than to Marx, and goes some way towards explaining the underlying causes of contemporary materialism as an expression of secular values largely deriving from Protestantism and the ensuing or concomitant decadence of Western civilization.