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Class: A Guide Through the American Status System Paperback – October 1, 1992

by Paul Fussell (Author)

226 customer reviews

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The bestselling, comprehensive, and carefully researched guide to the ins-and-outs of the American class system with a detailed look at the defining factors of each group, from customs to fashion to housing.

Based on careful research and told with grace and wit, Paul Fessell shows how everything people within American society do, say, and own reflects their social status. Detailing the lifestyles of each class, from the way they dress and where they live to their education and hobbies, Class is sure to entertain, enlighten, and occasionally enrage readers as they identify their own place in society and see how the other half lives.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Chicago Sun-Times Highly amusing....a witty, persnickety, and illuminating book....fussell hits the mark.

The Washington Post Move over, William Buckley. Stand back, Gore Vidal. And run for cover, Uncle Sam: Paul Fussell, the nation's newest world-class curmudgeon, is taking aim at The American Experiment.

Wilfrid Sheed The Atlantic A fine prickly pear of a book....Anyone who reads it will automatically move up a class.

Alison Lurie The New York Times Book Review A shrewd and entertaining commentary on American mores today. Frighteningly acute.

About the Author

Paul Fussell, critic, essayist, and cultural commentator, has recently won the H. L. Mencken Award of the Free Press Association. Among his books are The Great War and Modem Memory, which in 1976 won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award; Abroad: British Literary Traveling Between the Wars; Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War; and, most recently, BAD or, The Dumbing of America. His essays have been collected in The Boy Scout Handbook and Other Observations and Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays. He lives in Philadelphia, where he teaches English at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Product details

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; Reissue edition (October 1, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780671792251
ISBN-13: 978-0671792251
ASIN: 0671792253
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 226 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Demography
- #27 in Books > Medical Books > Dentistry
- #63 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Poverty

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Magical

this book is excellent. It borders on a kind of satire

April 13, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I discovered this book via a lecture given by cultural critic Morris Berman, and bought it used for a song. It should be noted it was written in the early '90s, which will become apparent when the author references time-specific idiosyncrasies of American culture, and of course, the noted lack of modern day tech.

That said, this book is excellent. It borders on a kind of satire, delightfully entertaining with its keen observation of how different classes display their status in America -- or their insecurities about their class, as the case may be. Perhaps one of the most fun things you end up doing as a result of this book is thinking about all the people in your life who fit the various descriptions. I easily pegged various members of my family from anywhere from prole to upper, and perhaps most painfully, those members so set on social climbing that they attempt to ape the habits of the upper class, to little worthy effect. All of them are here in this book. A few scattered illustrations will also amuse, particularly the scene of a middle class man engaged in the most middle class of activities -- the maintenance of his lawn.

I would love for Fussell to update this. It is impossible not to turn one's critical eye on everything through the lense of the class system as Fussell presents it, and even Facebook no longer looks the same to me, but basically a middle class shouting platform of neuroses with which to assuage insecurity about one's social standing. A wonderful book that provokes thinking.

While this book is a must-read, and I'm happy to have it on my shelf, the best by far was the end, in which he outlines a final class which has no place in the hierarchy -- the X-Class. I can't say with what joy it was to have myself identified at last, defining all the reasons I feel out of place in my own culture and class, only to realize Paul Fussell knows why. And I can't thank him enough for this contribution to the culture. Read this book, you won't be disappointed.

16 people found this helpful17 people found this helpful

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CLASS still valid today!

September 23, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A wonderfully persnickety dissection of the American class system, from "Top Out-of-Sight" all the way down to "Bottom Out-of-Sight," that is bound to raise smiles and hackles alike. Though Fussell gained his academic reputation from THE GREAT WAR AND MODERN MEMORY in 1975, CLASS established him as an essayist in the early 1980s and remains the best of his social analyses. Thirty-five years later, these observations are just as witty -- and occasionally infuriating -- as ever. Required reading among fans of wit and humor.

64 people found this helpful65 people found this helpful

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Anagha Kumar

It is undoubtedly one of the best books I have thus far read about American culture

September 12, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I read this book for the first time back in 2012 and then re-read it this Summer. It is undoubtedly one of the best books I have thus far read about American culture. Firstly, as a foreigner, it appears very peculiar to me that Americans insist they live in a classless society when that is clearly not the case. The existence of social class and the enormous role it plays in daily life, is perhaps, America's dirty little secret. One could argue that class plays a bigger role in American society than even race. As a foreigner living in the States for the past eight years, I have always been acutely aware of class in America and often jokingly refer to myself as an American class aficionado. I applaud Dr. Fussell for writing a most excellent book. Though at times scathing, this book hits the nail on the head and is refreshingly honest.

11 people found this helpful12 people found this helpful

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Jeffrey M. Welch

This book might challenge your view of where you fit in American society. Be prepared.

December 6, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A long time ago I read Paul Fussell's "The Great War in Modern Memory", this book had always stuck with me, unlike many other books that I have read and forgot. This one was suggested by someone whose opinion I valued, so I bought it and quickly read it. It was very entertaining, and insightful, if sometimes depressing!

I read the whole book over a weekend, and I am not entirely sure how it is meant to be taken. Sometimes I felt like Fussell was being totally serious and honest, at other times it read like satire. He clearly has some low opinions of some of the classes that he describes. Everyone seems to want what they don't have, except maybe the lower classes which appear happily ignorant of their situation. I don't know that one can read this book and use it as an actual guide to class in America, but you can read it and perhaps use it to help you to reflect on yourself and your own situation.

It is pretty clear from reading this book that Fussell didn't buy into the American myth of societal mobility. In Fussell's telling you can move a bit, but not by much. He has pretty rich and complex descriptions of our classes and thinking that there is just upper, middle, and lower is far too facile for Fussel. Each of these thumbnails of class has several subgroups, and there is even a group above "Upper", who knew? Money has a major role to play in class, but it is clear to Fussell that money itself does not determine class. It is far more complex, it is about taste, behavior, expectations, and even what we think others think of us, or that is whether we care. The "uppers" don't care too much what others think, it is the great American middle class that is so concerned about keeping up with the "Joneses" and their concern pegs them to where they are.

If you are interested in class, or understanding American social strata, this is well worth a read. It is even fun to read, but it might challenge your view of where you fit in American society. Be prepared.

16 people found this helpful17 people found this helpful

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Lexis B

Great book for understanding current times

May 9, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Yes, it was published in the early '80s, but its truths about the American class system ring truer today than ever, especially in the wake of Trump's election as president. Class envy was obviously a prime factor and this book makes so much on this phenomenon clear.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

alarmingly accurate, even in 2018 (decades after it was written), and still just as funny.

July 22, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Superb, deadly accurate, deadly funny book about the characteristics of different social classes in the USA. Been a long time since it was written, but as of around 2013 (when I last read it) it was only a little bit outdated. A must-read for anyone with a sense of humor; lethal and insulting if you're uptight about your social status.

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