A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern America

Rating:
Summary: Misleading Subtitle
Review: No matter Caldwell's argument for focusing--almost exclusively--on New York City (it's easier to research NYC, he says on the last page of the intro), his subtitle suggests a wider range. James and Wharton have told us more about NYC manners than Caldwell, trapped inside nonfiction's perimeters and by a bloodless style, can approach. Looking to the rest of the United States, then, would have had the meritorious effect of opening his topic up beyond the much-overdone.

Rating:
Summary: A Nothingburger
Review: This is a sloppy pastiche of -- well, not much. Some old issues of Ladies' Home Journal, some comments on undertakers' prices (!), comments on the development of Internet flaming, some anecdotes about children...it tries very hard to be a grand unifying survey, tying everything together and leading to fresh new insights, but just flops. The author has nothing new to say, doesn't know much about what he writes abouit, and has a tedious style. Likes to use words like "tergiversations" out of context. As interesting as tepid oatmeal. Buy Paul Fussel's "Class" or "The Tipping Point" instead; either is infinitely more entertaining, interesting and better written.

Rating:
Summary: It's really a history of politeness!
Review: Those expecting a savory collation of anecdotes about rudeness, ancient and modern, will be disappointed. Even Jerry Springer is only mentioned briefly in passing! The book is really about the history of good manners (actually, about the history of books about manners) over the centuries. Witty and amusing in places, but it often degenerates into brief summaries of other books (actually, I found its chief value was the pointers it gave to other, and more interesting, books on manners).