Learning How to Behave; A Historical Study of American Etiquette Books.

by Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.

s/t: A Historical Study of American Etiquette Books
A Marandell Book
Introduction
First lessons
Progress in the northern ports
Republican etiquette
The cult of elegance
Relax!
The balance sheet
Acknowledgments
Bibliography & Notes
Index

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Arthur Meier Schlesinger was an American historian who taught at Harvard University, pioneering social history and urban history. He was a Progressive Era intellectual who stressed material causes (such as economic profit and conflict between businessmen and farmers) and downplayed ideology and values as motivations for historical actors. He was highly influential as a director of PhD dissertations at Harvard for three decades, especially in the fields of social, women's, and immigration history. His son, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917–2007), also taught at Harvard and was a noted historian.

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historiographically fascinating, and the author name-drops many primary sources someone could look up and start a quality thesis on, but way too old and biased to be of any use as an introductory book about the history of American manners-making.