The Refinement of America
Download or Read eBook The Refinement of America PDF written by Richard Lyman Bushman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-09-21 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
Author | : Richard Lyman Bushman |
Publisher | : Vintage |
Total Pages | : 529 |
Release | : 2011-09-21 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780307761606 |
ISBN-13 | : 0307761606 |
Rating | : 4/5 (06 Downloads) |
Book Synopsis The Refinement of America by : Richard Lyman Bushman
Book excerpt: This lively and authoritative volume makes clear that the quest for taste and manners in America has been essential to the serious pursuit of a democratic culture. Spanning the material world from mansions and silverware to etiquette books, city planning, and sentimental novels, Richard L. Bushman shows how a set of values originating in aristocratic court culture gradually permeated almost every stratum of American society and served to prevent the hardening of class consciousness. A work of immense and richly nuanced learning, The Refinement of America newly illuminates every facet of both our artifacts and our values.