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

Mark Caldwell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312263899 | ISBN-13: 978-0312263898 | Publication Date: July 7, 2000 | Edition: 1st

The perceived breakdown of civility has in recent years become a national obsession, and our modern climate of boorishness has cultivated a host of etiquette watchdogs, like Miss Manners and Martha Stewart, who defend us against an onslaught of nastiness. Touching on aspects of both our public and private lives, including work, family, and sex, literary and social critic Mark Caldwell examines how the rules of behavior inevitably change and explains why, no matter how hard we try, we can never return to a golden era of civilized manners and mores.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If Americans value civility and good manners so much, then why have they made celebrities out of people like Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, and Dennis Rodman? How is it that political discourse came to be dominated by discussions of semen-stained dresses and mutual accusations of immorality and civic unfitness? Is the United States a nation of hypocrites? No, suggests Mark Caldwell, it's just really confused. "We want to be free, but we long for restraint," he writes. "We insist on openness and cringe when we get it; we strain at trivial offenses and swallow camels of iniquity."

A Short History of Rudeness flits around the obsession with good manners and moral behavior, touching upon a number of aspects of public life (the workplace, mass transit, the Internet) and private (child rearing, home design, sexual politics). Along the way, Caldwell strings together an array of primary sources--including newspaper articles, business etiquette manuals, and South Park episodes--that help explain why people pay attention to Martha Stewart, whether Dr. Spock is really responsible for multiple generations of spoiled brats, and how users of the Internet developed a blunt discourse that, while superficially crude, exhibits a desire for decorum at its core. (Why do we feel justified in flaming spammers? Because they violate our sense of privacy.) The cultural obsession with manners and morality unfolds as part of a deeper anxiety over class. While the individual sections of A Short History of Rudeness are not always revelatory, Caldwell's slow but steady approach is at least innovative in the particular way he chooses to fit together these pieces of the social puzzle. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Are good manners symptoms of an ``inborn urge toward community''? Or devices to control our ``natural drive toward conflict and violence? Social historian Caldwell (The Last Crusade: The War on Consumption, 18621954, 1988) offers some provocative answers. His book doesn't really address rudeness per se but is rather an attractive history of what constitutes good manners as formulated by the likes of Emily Post, Miss Manners, Letitia Baldridge, and others. Etiquetteindeed, civility itselfis the vestige of a once- rigid class structure. Notions of propriety go hand-in-hand with our perceptions of the customs and rituals of ``good society.'' For cultural conservatives, the author notes, the breakdown in our societys infrastructure (that is, in discernible lines of authority in the family, at school, on the job) is manifest in our lack of manners. A return to optional niceties . . . will stiffen our moral spines,'' argue William Bennett and Gertrude Himmelfarb. Caldwell goes to great lengths to demonstrate that what we call manners has little to do with ethics or morals; they are often trivial and generally a matter of personal taste instituted by the dominant culture to distance itself from the masses. He does a marvelous job of dissecting manners and customs in public life, in business and personal relations, and in the political correctness debate over gender and race relations. His examination of customs and rituals in weddings and funerals finds that under the guise of propriety and tradition these events have become occasions for huge, unnecessary expenditures. He takes a look at bulletin boards and chat rooms on the Internet and finds hate-filled language that few would tolerate in person. Caldwell also offers a surprisingly convincing defense of Martha Stewart as a democratizing force who educates ``through attractive example''rather than snobbish proselytizing. An astute critical history of American manners, taste, and etiquette that explores ``what makes manners so compelling a concern.'' -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (July 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312263899
• ISBN-13: 978-0312263898
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,101,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and accessible, July 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern America (Hardcover)

Completely free of the elitism and moralizing that you usually find in etiquette books, Caldwell bypasses the usual bemoaning of how low our standards are, and instead concentrates on how, when, and why standards of polite behavior have changed over the years.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's really a history of politeness!, November 14, 2000

By 

Phelps Gates (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern America (Paperback)

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).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Caldwell's Short History is Spot On, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern America (Hardcover)

Caldwell covers the history and contemporary culture of manners (or, rather, the lack thereof). He reminds us that while courtesy is anything but common these days, anything less is uncivilized. Sharp and, even pointed when it needs to be, this book puts etiquette in its place: everywhere. For a teenage view point of contemporary manners, a good title would be Alex Packer's HOW RUDE!-which provides a historical and cultural basis, as well as a practical one, for why teens should behave themselves.