With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look At Misanthropy [Paperback]

Florence King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1993

The unreconstructed people-hater offers her piece de resistance: a guided tour of the misanthropic life, and an inspirational handbook for Americans grown tired of "goo-goo humanitarianism and sensitivity that never sleeps". "The only trouble with this book is that its covers are too close together".--The New York Times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Misanthropy, as defined here: "If ever you meet someone who cannot understand why solitary confinement is considered punishment, you have met a misanthrope." Sounding a war cry, King ( Lump It or Leave It ) slings as many Molotov cocktails at her brethren as she does at the enemy, occasionally leaving the reader hard put to distinguish the good misanthrope: former president Nixon was wrongly perceived as a hypocrite, although he was actually only trying to hide his misanthropy, argues the author; misanthropes Ty Cobb, Irving Berlin and James Gould Cozzens, on the other hand, are dismissed as merely boring. Such distinctions are crucial to King, who considers misanthropes with "naked intellect" like Flaubert society's true friends because they hold us to the highest standards, while "tender misanthropes," like Rousseau with his sensibilite and, in our own day, Oprah, Donahue and Geraldo, encourage us to discount dignity and character. Also bristling this snarling misanthrope's fur are affirmative action--"favoritism for blacks"--and feminism. Citizens of King's designated "Republic of Nice" and probably even those in the "Republic of Mean" are likely to return their own anger to this diatribe, while the stateless will dismiss King's posturing as dyspepsia manifest.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Queen bee of the it's-not-really-all-in-fun division of barbed humor, King (Lump It or Leave It, 1990, etc.) restrains her vaunted bawdiness a little here and presents an impassioned survey of the general condition of aversion to the whole of humanity. Forget about making nice, says the author. As cleverly irritable and cheerfully disrespectful as ever, King eschews descriptions of such easy paragons of political incorrectness as H.L. Mencken or W.C. Fields to make her point. She does, however, trace the proud history of misanthropy with unmanicured thumbnail sketches of several other leading exponents, drawn from real life and from fiction. Dian Fossey, Ty Cobb, and Coriolanus, with their famed contumely; G. Gordon Liddy and Louis-Ferdinand C‚line, led by their demented different drummers; Rousseau and Bierce and the heroines of long-forgotten potboilers--all are trotted out, snarling. The ``real'' Richard Nixon is finally identified as Alceste, MoliŠre's misanthrope in the dewlapped flesh. And don't forget Timon of Athens or Irving Berlin of Broadway, meanies both. Not one to shortchange the customers, King offers a nice assortment of one-liners. On dying alone: ``I'd rather rot on my own floor than be found by a bunch of bingo players in a nursing home.'' A closet misanthrope's fantasy (which she predicts will catch on): ``involuntary euthanasia.'' Is a misanthrope a natural-born grouch, simply a realist, or just a curmudgeon with a short fuse? Gadfly King never quite decides. While working it all out, though, she whacks organized feminists, affirmative activists, goody-goodies, and everybody else with impartial ferocity. Following Groucho, who intoned the noble anthem of misanthropy so long ago, whatever it is, she's against it. She's got a point. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (March 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312094140
• ISBN-13: 978-0312094140
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brevity is the soul of wrath, November 22, 1999

By 

Walter Hearne (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look At Misanthropy (Paperback)

I disagree with the NY Times--this book's covers are not too close together. It is of perfect length for a nice antisocial weekend. Kudos to King for introducing the reader to less obvious misanthropes. I learned that Diane Fossey was a savage, Ayn Rand was an obsessive-compulsive Fuhrer-in-waiting, and Ty Cobb was just a bully. People often confuse misanthropy with psychosis. King is sharp enough to make the distinction. I would bump into her and exchange vulgar insults anytime.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No "hugees" here!, July 3, 2001

By 

Aristotle - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look At Misanthropy (Paperback)

This is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. If you have had too much PC or have had it up to here with cloying sentimentality, or you just had too much "other people", get this book. If you like Dorothy Parker, H.L. Mencken, Ambrose Bierce, Grouch Marx, etc., you will love this book. Miss King spares no one and pulls no punches.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to hate people to love Florence King, September 7, 2002

By 

The Sanity Inspector (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look At Misanthropy (Paperback)

I resubmit my review, to link with my current list.

The "failed Southern lady" sets off into history, searching out other members of her own kind. This results in some intriguing character sketches of people like Ambrose Bierce, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dian Fossey, and other famous people-haters. She verges on preciousness in places, as in the interweaving of Nixon's career with a poem by a French courtier. But the book is full of her acidic well-readness, and is endlessly quotable. The introduction is a great exposition--maybe the only one in popular literature--one what makes and what does not make a misanthrope. Enjoy your bitters!