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Summary: Will stay in your mind...
Review: I first read this book about ten years ago and it stayed in my mind. It really opens your eyes to class differences that do exist in the U.S. When I see my husband entertain with tortilla chips and salsa when I get the brie and crackers, I understand! Warning: once you read this book, you won't ever look at life in the US the same way again!
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Summary: There cannot be too much of THIS good thing!
Review: I've never read anything even remotely as entertaining as "Class". Being a foreigner, I especially appreciated this unanticipated look at Americans. Somebody, please, get the author to write a sequel!
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Summary: Scorched earth
Review: One of the books I re-read occasionally, Class is a take-no-prisoners look at all our foibles and pretensions. Even years after its publication, Fussell's commentary on everything from bumper stickers to unnatural fibers will make you wince when you recognize yourself, and make you strive to embody his "X" ideals in the last chapter -- a surprisingly prescient description and prediction of trends in popular culture.
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Summary: Of course there is some quibbling. . . .
Review: I have heard some otherwise enthusiastic readers of CLASS mention that Mr. Fussell's book doesn't nail Southern (USA) culture quite as accurately as it hits the USA in general. One possible reason is that, as fellow curmudgeon Florence King points out, the south is a place where people are treated as if they have money when they have none, and as if they have none when in fact they have plenty. But here! This is nothing but quibbling. Class is among the most enjoyable and entertaining books ever, and it only gets better when taken along with Mr. Fussell's other books -- WARTIME, THANK GOD FOR THE ATOMIC BOMB, etc. One more quibble -- it would be nice if it had an index, so that one might look up such things as "Adjusto-strap, 71, prole cap worn backwards to exhibit," etc.
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Summary: An American Classic
Review: Anyone who wants to take up American citizenship should be made to read this book before they can take the oath, they should know what they are signing up for. Witty, true, well written "Class" has earned a perpetual place on my bookshelf.
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Summary: A great book. Fun to re-read
Review: I agree with reviewer David Culp. It's one of my favorite books too.
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Summary: Fussell has a piercing eye. Highly entertaining.
Review: This is a wonderfully entertaining book. Fussell is highly witty, quite humorous in his depiction of class tastes. For all its thoroughness "Class" is only superficial on one count. It never attempts to address the reason why one class chooses this, another that. Maybe one class is just too exploited, tired, or undereducated to opt for the more cultivated choice. But since that's not funny........
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Summary: My favorite book ever!
Review: I've read this book at least thirty times, taking my dog-eared and yellowed copy along on every business trip and vacation. It's not only fun to read, it's highly literate - improve your english SAT score in only one reading! Warning! After reading this book you'll never again be able to walk through your living room without feeling pangs of embarassment at all the class indicators present.
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Summary: Biting, witty, hilarious. Expect to be offended!
Review: This book is not some lighthearded comedy about rich vs. poor. Yes, it's a hilarious guide through the labyrinth of America's class system. But Fussell isn't writing just for fun -- he launches an all-out attack on America's hypocritical pride in its own egalitarianism. If you ever wondered where you really fit in (or where your neighbors fit in), read this book. You will ask yourself how he could manage to know so much about you. The only problem is that Fussell's suggested "way out" of the system is a little outdated and somewhat inadequate
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Summary: Class in America is Undeniable
Review: It can hardly be denied that there are huge differences among people in the US concerning wealth, income, power, employment, education, attractiveness, and ancestry. And then there are differences concerning where one lives, habits, tastes, dress, speech, recreation, beliefs, etc. The author contends that these differences work to segment American society into identifiable classes, ranging from upper classes, a middle-class, and several layers of proletariat or lower classes. American is not the classless society that our myths suggest.
There is a real basis for being pegged at a certain level of class. One does not simply self-select class level; inter-class change is difficult and fairly rare. The hardball nature of class divisions is readily seen in the economic power asserted by the upper classes in employing or managing the lesser classes that preserves extant class distinctions. The middle-class, perhaps the largest of the classes, suffers, by far, the most anxiety from their class standing, in terms of both preserving their standing and adopting behaviors that emulate the upper middle-class, which hopefully will permit some degree of entry. The critique of the middle-class is often devastating as the author notes purchasing decisions, educational choices, and speech patterns, etc, designed to enhance status that invariably fall flat, even looking ludicrous at times. The lower classes are no less ridiculed, but they are more comfortable with their culture. Ironically, they often have more economic independence than does the middle-class.
To demonstrate the disconnect across classes, the author presents the scenario where a middle-class person congratulates a college professor on being a "famous educator." The fact that a professor considers himself an intellectual and not an employee, as educators most certainly are, never enters the mind of the person attempting to bestow praise. The professor is offended, not honored by the comparison. That is one small example of the cultural class-divides of which the author speaks.
The author suggests that the society is generally becoming more proletarianized, as mass culture is aimed at the lowest common denominator. Though written over twenty years ago, perhaps the term Wal-martized is what the author is after. The ramifications of that are unclear.
The author backtracks from his placement of everyone in a class by suggesting that "category X" people have come to the fore that resist categorization into the class framework. They are generally urban, independent, self-assertive, often self-employed, well-read, dismissive of popular culture, and free of status anxiety. They are remindful of the "cultural creatives," a group detected in recent years by some sociologists. It may be debatable as to whether "X" people deserve special consideration. After all, all class members partake and reject parts of the broader culture, exhibiting some "X" characteristics. Furthermore, power realities do not just disappear. An "X" writer must still deal with powerful corporations that are not reluctant to assert class power.
The basic message of the book is not diminished despite its publication over twenty years ago and the change of some minor cultural details. Recent developments, such as the ubiquity of cell-phones and CD/DVD players and the rise of the hip-hop/rap culture, would hardly undermine the author's ideas; in fact, they would corroborate them. The reality and confusion of class are easily seen in the presidential election of 2004. A class (the lower classes) was organized (propagandized) to reject the candidate of part of the upper middle class (liberal elites) based on so-called elitist cultural habits. The full dimension of that class divide was carefully not discussed; it should have been. And that is a weakness of the book: the politics of class is not discussed.
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