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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating look at a major cultural change, November 19, 2007
Imagine if all of a sudden men starting going outside without pants on. (Let's for the moment ignore the teenagers who wear them so low they are essentially pantless, wearing tall socks rather than trousers.) We would be startled, shocked, confused, and wonder what had happened. Well, this is what occurred during the 20th Century with hats. Look at old photos of busy New York streets and you'll see every head covered. Rich, poor, young, old. No difference. Yet this essential piece of attire virtually disappeared within a generation. And no one really noticed.
The traditional tale is that Kennedy's inauguration did it in. But this book clearly establishes that is not true. No, it was a gradual slide that picked up steam, and in my father's generation (born in 1930) completely vanished. For him a hat was what old men wore, and though he had one for the rare occasion when he wanted to look more mature, after about 1960 he never wore it again. Look at the famous photo of Ruby shooting Oswald. The old guys in authority, and Ruby himself, are all wearing their hats; the younger guys are not. A fedora today is an affectation, an attempt to stand out. Whereas, as Steinberg so vividly points out, NOT wearing a hat, or wearing the out of season hat, could bring anything from insults to assaults.
I was fascinated by the entire book. Well written, well organized, well constructed. I only wish there had been illustrations to show me what all these various headpieces were. But as social history, this is one of the most illuminating and insightful looks at cultural change I've ever read.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good facts, uncertain interpretation, May 29, 2008
I'm of two minds about this book. Neil Steinberg has produced a great history of the form and content of hat-wearing, and the decline of the behatted male in the United States. I learned a great deal about the industry, the importance of hats to the idea of the well-dressed man, and the many forces that came together to send the noble fedora and its cousins into their long decline. And also about John F. Kennedy.
But while the author has done a fine job with the facts, I'm still not sure I buy all his interpretation of them. He strikes me as far too willing to buy into the cliché -- true in its most basic form, perhaps, but far too exaggerated in the popular mind -- of the dull, conformist, gray 1950s and the lively, individualist, color-saturated '60s.
Perhaps he should, as the Randians would say, check his premises -- particularly his evident assumption that informality equals authenticity and self-expression. But if it is "conformist" for a man to wear a hat at a time when all men wear hats, why is it a sign of rebellious nonconformity to abandon hats when all men are abandoning them? Are we really any more individualist today, when forty-something men go to the mall dressed in the same long t-shirts, baggy shorts, and giant sneakers worn by their twelve year old sons? If you want to demonstrate individuality and self-expression through your dress today, gentlemen, the best way to do so is with suit, tie, and a well-maintained snap-brim. But, check out this book first to make sure you know when to tip the fedora, and to whom.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where's the rabbit?, November 3, 2005
This review is from: Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style (Mass Market Paperback)
I'll never look at the top hat, from which the magician conjures the bunny, in the same way ever again.
HATLESS JACK is one of those fascinating treatises about a subject with which you wouldn't otherwise think to concern yourself. In this case, it's men's hats - Stetsons, derbies, fedoras, straw boaters, toppers - and the history, customs, etiquette, and practical pitfalls surrounding their use in America . More importantly, the book examines the demise of the hat as a necessary component of the well-dressed man's wardrobe. As the title implies, the disappearance of the hat from American male fashion can perhaps be largely attributed to President John Kennedy's aversion to wearing such. In debunking this theory, author Neil Steinberg, while incidentally writing an engaging (albeit superficial) narrative about America's youngest President, traces the decline of fashionable headgear back to the 1890's when female theater patrons found it obliging to remove their large and elaborate hats so people sitting behind could see the stage. From there, despite the heyday of fedoras and straw hats in the 1920s, it was all downhill, much to the consternation of the nation's hatmakers.
HATLESS JACK is also a compendium of historically interesting trivia. Did you know that the Hat Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1732, forbade American colonists from selling hats abroad or to each other, as well as the physical conveyance of hats by boat or horse? Or that the wearing of summer straw hats beyond September 15th could cause social unrest to the extent of rioting in the streets? Or that hatcheck girls of the 20s and 30s occupied a social position "halfway between a sister and a slut"?
HATLESS JACK cries out for a photo section; its sole deficiency is that it has none. There are supposedly pictures of JFK wearing a top hat during his inauguration (though he mostly carried it). I'd love to see one.
Oddly, Steinberg fails to mention the enduring association of hats, even to contemporary times, with that icon of Americana, the western cowboy. That phenomenon could have filled a chapter all by itself. (Country-western singers don't count.)
And do I own a hat? I do, actually - a grey canvas number reminiscent of that worn by Indiana Jones. I sport it at a jaunty angle on my out-of-state vacations to remind the local rubes that I'm not a swell to be trifled with.
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