The embargo was a success: the people were starving and the country was in ruins..." Extreme situations have always illuminated the human condition, and in these three stories set in three widely-separated places in times of crisis, Theodore Dalrymple explores the deeper levels of human nature. Theodore Dalrymple is a retired doctor and psychiatrist who has written many books, including Life at the Bottom, Romancing Opiates and Admirable Evasions.