Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

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Summary: A field guide to American Class Structure
Review: Fussell says in the first chapter that "you think class is all about money, but it isn't", then spends the rest of the book saying "you think it's about money, but it isn't, but it is, really". Nevertheless, most readers, by virtue of the fact that they bought this book, will be able to feel pleasently superior and a few pangs of guilt when they see themselves. A very funny book if you don't take it to seriously.

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Summary: quite an educational and entertaining read
Review: After reading this book, I couldn't help the way my perceptions of different facets of society changed. This applies especially to myself- ohh, God- I really *like* sweet drinks and some of my shirts are cotton/poly blend. Am I vulgar? I presume a similar reaction is shared by many readers of Fussell's book. However, although eliciting a wince from the reader now and then, the author's frankness aabout a much skirted issue is quite refreshing.

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Summary: Interesting sight on class, not only in US
Review: I got a Chinese edition of this book and found it is a wonderful interesting reference book when considering the class status in China

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Summary: I recommend this to all my writer clients and students
Review: Class differences are the basis of much drama and fiction, as in My Fair Lady, A Streetcar Named Desire, and many others. Fussell's book, fun to read--and reread, as I have--is a gold mine for the serious writer.

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Summary: Wry, insightful and prescient, though self-indulgent.
Review: As a newly successful young professional, I thrilled in this book's ride up and down our American class ladder. Outrageously funny, you'll need a thick skin not to take umbrage at times. I am still ashamed to learn that expensive technical wrist-watches imply horrible middle class status. Probably most Americans find offensive this book's teaching that one's class is inherited at birth, with little or no recourse to change it (an exception being marriage up or down). In the final chapter of the book, "The X Way Out", Fussell argues there is a class of Americans who have risen above class. However, I think he was self-indulgently describing middle-class, well-educated people like himself, who have a strong sense of irony and a sociologist's intellectual rationalization of the class system. Certainly the members of his "X" group did not graduate from the ivy leagues, or drop-out of the urban high-schools. Though written in the early 1980's, Fussell's observations are almost all still pertinent in 1999. However, his characterization of corporations as evil overlords seems quaint and archaic in this era of 5% unemployment. In summary, if you ever wondered about an American class system, this book is for you.

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Summary: Nothing better to say about America
Review: What an excellent disection of class... none of the rungs in the American social ladder escapes Fussel's embarassing insights, except of course the mysterious classless "X category." Wonderful both in its nail-on-the-head description of the absurdity of the various classes, and its subtle, implicit prescription of X authenticity.

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Summary: Too much of the same thing
Review: yes, there are some funny things here, but it gets old very very fast. read a paragraph in the bookstore and skip the rest.

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Summary: A modern classic.......
Review: I am staring at my beaten up copy of "Class" as I write my review, and after eight years, I'm still laughing. I have lost count of how many times I have read it and how many copies I have passed on. I am English, living in Australia, but the same class distinctions seem to exist in most modern day societies......I went bowling once and couldn't stop thinking about this book, I was in stitches.........I am hopelessly middle class, regardless of money and Mr Fussell delivers a reality check in such a way that I enjoyed the slap accross the chops "wake up" call... More please Paul when you're ready

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Summary: A real consciousness-raiser!
Review: I've re-read this book several times in the last ten years. It is somewhat ascerbic and somtimes tongue-in-cheek, but I can say from personal experience with the various classes ranging from upper-middle down through mid-prole, it is full of useful and interesting insights. Unfortunately, it makes me even more self-conscious about my tastes (which may have been a mean-spirited intention of Fussell's). But that's my problem.

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Summary: A pity that this was published in the early 80's...
Review: A very fine look at the social hierarchy of the United States. It's impossible not to change the way you look at furniture, food, colleges... almost every aspect of life, and how it affects your social class. The "Living Room Scale" in the Appendix is particularly amusing. It's too bad that some parts are no longer current, but the vast majority of this book rings true. Definitely worth a look or three.