![]() ![]() This is a fascinating look at what really makes up class distinctions in American society. This is where the book, instead of being revolutionary, is actually quite reactionary. Everything "popular" is bad and cheap for Prof. He ultimately seems to prefer status and traditions over the rise of mass culture. My one criticism with Fussell's analysis, however, is that he ends up coming off, ironically, as a an elitist. He's very funny and witty about the pretensions of all class levels in the United States. And Fussell's acerbic humor saves what could have been a very dry study. ![]() Yes, some of the examples are from another era and don't pack quite the same punch. ![]() It shows how bound we are to our class upbringings no matter how hard we try to pretend that class doesn't exist in this country. Judging by the comments for this book on Goodreads there are a lot of lazy and literal readers out there.įussell's tongue-in-cheek dissection of class in America does, in fact, hold up in many respects. If that's your biggest concern while ignoring other facets of a book well then, my friend, YOU. What's that? Technology and trends have changed over the past 30 years? You don't say. Oh, you mean a book written in the early 1980s does not 100% hold up in the 2010s? What a surprise. I don't like to throw around the word "dated" when it comes to reading older books. ![]()
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