In this eyebrow-raising documentary, writer and critic John Carey delivers a critique on the response of Edwardian intellectuals to the rise of popular culture and mass education.
Professor Carey argues that writers such as DH Lawrence, EM Forster and WB Yeats attempted to elevate reading beyond the reach and understanding of ordinary people as soon as ordinary people were finally able to read. Influenced by philosophers such as Nietzche, this elitism and contempt for the common man eventually mutated into a fascination with eugenics and a belief that the survival of civilisation demanded the extermination of certain types of people.
The Menace of the Masses is based on John Carey's book The Intellectuals and the Masses. The programme was produced by World of Wonder for BBC Four.
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THE EDWARDIANS
Highlights from BBC Four's biggest ever season
