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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A law professor and literary scholar who plumbed other depths of moral unpleasantness in The Mystery of Courage and The Anatomy of Disgust, Miller here turns in an intelligent, articulate, somewhat convention-bound essay on the inevitable falseness of civilized behavior and the vanity of human nature that it conceals and reflects. With a blend of Jesuitical enthusiasm and Judaic ruefulness, he takes on the familiar demon of keeping up appearances. Starting with hypocrisy, which emulates and contaminates virtue, Miller considers the posturing inherent in such mechanisms of civility as religious ritual, seduction, apology and praise. After a due quota of vice spotting, Miller warms up to his central theme, the self-consciousness that compromises not only action but identity. The emphasis shifts from behavior to emotion: alienation, hatred, shame, anxiety, what Miller aptly calls the "vexations" behind routine fakeries like professionalism and cosmetics and high-stakes games like courtship and passing. The final section examines the processes by which we become the masks we assume. The book's chief philosophical strength is its light but serious treatment of germane texts: moments in the Gospels, passages from Hamlet and Tristram Shandy, a telling joke of Freud's. On the other hand, its most compelling feature is the inexorable pull of its author's Jewish identity, which he ultimately finds "at the core" of just the mode of self-consciousness that he is exploring. The book as a whole makes a fine introduction to that voice, and to the "ancient tradition of moral writing" that integrates serious thinking with everyday contexts.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"William Ian Miller...scratches the itch of authenticity and relieves the ache of morality with delicious determination in Faking It." --The Boston Globe
"Faking It is a fascinating book that explores, among other things, the anxiety, tension, and self-doubt that we all experience as we try to play certain social roles. Faking It is written in a clear and accessible way and would be of interest to anyone curious about deception, insincerity, authenticity, and human nature." Philosophy in Review
"...learned and deliciously discursive..." The Independent
"Faking It is essentially an intellectual thrill ride, complete with scholarly twists and comic spins -- certainly worth the price of admission." California Literary Review
Advance praise: "Wonderfully wry, satirical, comical, and of course extremely widely read, he's apparently all-knowing about every low personal dodge by which we maneuver to appear better in the eyes of others than we really are--in love, in church, in bed, in the classroom... None of our common low bluffing and double-bluffing, our devoted passing ourselves off as what we're not, our making of false claims and laying of false trails about ourselves, none of our perpetual and practiced scams and schemes and dodges for gaining some personal advantage, escape Miller's unrelenting scrutiny. This is ethical-personal investigating for everyday consideration and of the most biddable and readable kind. One turns the page in a mounting agony of embarrassed recognition - exposed, found out, guilty as charged on every count. What a glorious delight of a book for the ethical self-flagellant!" Valentine Cunningham, Oxford University
"In this refreshing book, Miller ... entertains us with stories of adults who overestimate their sexual prowess and children who find out that saying "please" doesn't buy them what they were told it would. In short, he finds us all engaged in fakery much of the time.... Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries." Library Journal
"Intelligent, articulate...its most compelling feature is the inexorable pull of its author's Jewish identity...the book as a whole makes a fine introduction to that voice, and to the 'ancient tradition of moral writing' that integrates serious thinking with everyday contexts." Publishers Weekly
"William Ian Miller's "Faking It" (Cambridge University Press) is a brilliant, insightful and very funny study of the tendency to lay claim to more power. knowledge and authority than you really have." NEWSDAY
"Miller...has written an erudite, accessible and relentlessly lively book." San Diego Union Tribune
See all Editorial Reviews
A law professor and literary scholar who plumbed other depths of moral unpleasantness in The Mystery of Courage and The Anatomy of Disgust, Miller here turns in an intelligent, articulate, somewhat convention-bound essay on the inevitable falseness of civilized behavior and the vanity of human nature that it conceals and reflects. With a blend of Jesuitical enthusiasm and Judaic ruefulness, he takes on the familiar demon of keeping up appearances. Starting with hypocrisy, which emulates and contaminates virtue, Miller considers the posturing inherent in such mechanisms of civility as religious ritual, seduction, apology and praise. After a due quota of vice spotting, Miller warms up to his central theme, the self-consciousness that compromises not only action but identity. The emphasis shifts from behavior to emotion: alienation, hatred, shame, anxiety, what Miller aptly calls the "vexations" behind routine fakeries like professionalism and cosmetics and high-stakes games like courtship and passing. The final section examines the processes by which we become the masks we assume. The book's chief philosophical strength is its light but serious treatment of germane texts: moments in the Gospels, passages from Hamlet and Tristram Shandy, a telling joke of Freud's. On the other hand, its most compelling feature is the inexorable pull of its author's Jewish identity, which he ultimately finds "at the core" of just the mode of self-consciousness that he is exploring. The book as a whole makes a fine introduction to that voice, and to the "ancient tradition of moral writing" that integrates serious thinking with everyday contexts.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"William Ian Miller...scratches the itch of authenticity and relieves the ache of morality with delicious determination in Faking It." --The Boston Globe
"Faking It is a fascinating book that explores, among other things, the anxiety, tension, and self-doubt that we all experience as we try to play certain social roles. Faking It is written in a clear and accessible way and would be of interest to anyone curious about deception, insincerity, authenticity, and human nature." Philosophy in Review
"...learned and deliciously discursive..." The Independent
"Faking It is essentially an intellectual thrill ride, complete with scholarly twists and comic spins -- certainly worth the price of admission." California Literary Review
Advance praise: "Wonderfully wry, satirical, comical, and of course extremely widely read, he's apparently all-knowing about every low personal dodge by which we maneuver to appear better in the eyes of others than we really are--in love, in church, in bed, in the classroom... None of our common low bluffing and double-bluffing, our devoted passing ourselves off as what we're not, our making of false claims and laying of false trails about ourselves, none of our perpetual and practiced scams and schemes and dodges for gaining some personal advantage, escape Miller's unrelenting scrutiny. This is ethical-personal investigating for everyday consideration and of the most biddable and readable kind. One turns the page in a mounting agony of embarrassed recognition - exposed, found out, guilty as charged on every count. What a glorious delight of a book for the ethical self-flagellant!" Valentine Cunningham, Oxford University
"In this refreshing book, Miller ... entertains us with stories of adults who overestimate their sexual prowess and children who find out that saying "please" doesn't buy them what they were told it would. In short, he finds us all engaged in fakery much of the time.... Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries." Library Journal
"Intelligent, articulate...its most compelling feature is the inexorable pull of its author's Jewish identity...the book as a whole makes a fine introduction to that voice, and to the 'ancient tradition of moral writing' that integrates serious thinking with everyday contexts." Publishers Weekly
"William Ian Miller's "Faking It" (Cambridge University Press) is a brilliant, insightful and very funny study of the tendency to lay claim to more power. knowledge and authority than you really have." NEWSDAY
"Miller...has written an erudite, accessible and relentlessly lively book." San Diego Union Tribune
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
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