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Overview
Joseph Epstein's book takes up the subject of snobbery in America after the fall of the prominence of the old Wasp culture of prep schools, Ivy League colleges, cotillions, debutante balls, the Social Register, and the rest of it. With ample humor and insight, Epstein uncovers the new outlets upon which the old snobbery has fastened: food and wine, fashion, high-achieving children, schools, politics, health, being with-it, name-dropping, and much else, including the roles of Jews and homosexuals in the development of snobbery. He also raises the question of whether snobbery might, alas, be a part of human nature. Snobbery: The American Version is the first book in English devoted exclusively to the subject since Thackeray's The Book of Snobs.Synopsis
A national bestseller, Snobbery examines the discriminating qualities in all of us. With dishy detail, Joseph Epstein skewers all manner of elitism in contemporary America. He offers his arch observations of the new footholds of snobbery: food, fashion, high-achieving children, schools, politics, being with-it, name-dropping, and much more. Clever, incisive, and immensely entertaining, Snobberyexplores the shallows and depths of status and taste—with enviable results.
JOSEPH EPSTEIN is the author of the best-selling Snobbery and of Friendship, among other books, and was formerly editor of the American Scholar. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
Book Magazine
Epstein takes a lighthearted look at some of American society's most prevalent forms of snobbery in this entertaining book. With the lessening of class snobbery, there's more room for everyone to feel high and mighty about their politics, ethnicity (specifically what Epstein calls virtue by way of victimhood), jobs, college, children's achievements, food, health and good old-fashioned money. But the one that really clinches it is "reverse snobbery," practitioners of which are snobs in anti-snob clothing (like Paul McCartney, who sent his kids to public school). If all this sounds a little obvious, Epstein is so charming you don't really care. He compares the president of his university showing Princess Diana around campus to a "chihuahua attempting to mount an Afghan hound," goes on a hilarious two-chapter digression mocking the sorry state of higher education and cracks wise with lines like "Listening to the great Chicago Symphony play the movie and television music of Henry Mancini felt to me like getting into a Rolls-Royce to drive around the block to take out the garbage." Yes, Epstein admits, he's a snob, too.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Is snobbery simply part of human nature? That's one of the questions Joseph Epstein ponders in this fascinating -- and deliciously snarky -- look at snobs and how they operate in every aspect of American society.Steve Wilson
Epstein takes a lighthearted look at some of American society's most prevalent forms of snobbery in this entertaining book. With the lessening of class snobbery, there's more room for everyone to feel high and mighty about their politics, ethnicity (specifically what Epstein calls virtue by way of victimhood), jobs, college, children's achievements, food, health and good old-fashioned money. But the one that really clinches it is "reverse snobbery," practitioners of which are snobs in anti-snob clothing (like Paul McCartney, who sent his kids to public school). If all this sounds a little obvious, Epstein is so charming you don't really care. He compares the president of his university showing Princess Diana around campus to a "chihuahua attempting to mount an Afghan hound," goes on a hilarious two-chapter digression mocking the sorry state of higher education and cracks wise with lines like "Listening to the great Chicago Symphony play the movie and television music of Henry Mancini felt to me like getting into a Rolls-Royce to drive around the block to take out the garbage." Yes, Epstein admits, he's a snob, too.Publishers Weekly
Noted essayist and former American Scholar editor Epstein, having enlightened us on ambition (Ambition: The Secret Passion), now turns to its companion, snobbery. The topic is ripe with promise, but Epstein's observations are less revelatory than entertaining. Underneath their pretentious exteriors, he writes, snobs are insecure people who have latched onto arbitrary measures of status to prove they're worthier than those around them. It's natural fallout, he says, in a world where complete fairness is nonexistent. The best antidote to snobbery, Epstein suggests, is to treat people the same, regardless of their circumstances, and to value things for their intrinsic worth rather than their cachet. Epstein shares his own snobbish tendencies and biases at the outset. From childhood, he writes, his snob radar was fully operational, and by his senior year in high school he was already "an impressively cunning statustician." Epstein goes on to deal with a range of past and present pretensions relating to class, work, democracy, possessions, parenting, college, clubs and intellectualism. In one delicious instance, he describes an American reaction to visiting royalty. "Princess Diana, not long before she died, visited Northwestern University, where I teach," he writes. "The spectacle of the university president, a smallish man in glasses, following the Princess about the campus, yapping away, reminded one of nothing so much as that of a Chihuahua attempting to mount an Afghan hound." The chapter on name-dropping is particularly sharp, citing a variety of ways people exploit connections to well-known individuals for social profit. Epstein has a wickedly wonderful sense of humor and keen observational skills, both on display in the firsthand anecdotes scattered throughout this essayistic assemblage. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
This readable but serious work examines the nature and place of snobbery and its various manifestations in America, from the country's founding to the present. Epstein (English & writing, Northwestern Univ.) defines snobbery as the practice of making oneself feel superior at the expense of others and argues that as long as people are seeking self-affirmation, it will long live on. He writes of snobbery in the workplace; of its presence in evaluating education, taste, dress, wealth, and race as factors in determining "class" inclusion; and of the snob factors involved in ranking one's status and prestige in all walks of life and situations. He identifies celebrity-level requirements in today's world, compares his own snobberies with those he discerns in others, and overviews Americans' interactions with the cultures of England and the European continent. While Epstein's argument is quite witty and thoughtful, the scant bibliographic references and conversational tone will limit this book's appeal in academic libraries. It is, however, highly recommended for all general readers and public libraries. Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Alfred Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
Clever, prolific Epstein (Narcissus Leaves the Pool, 1999, etc.) turns his wit to the pernicious, universal failing previously addressed by such worthies as Edith Wharton, Tom Wolfe, Russell Lynes, and even Father Mencken, among countless others. Dissecting snobbery in all its current manifestations, Epstein (English/Northwestern) examines the ways in which people who pursue lives of invidious comparison may judge you (and surely find you wanting) in matters of employment, education, income, affiliations, intellectual interests, spouse(s), ethnicity, favored comestibles, politics, celebrity, dogs, and, not least, progeny. Of course, a snob is Janus-faced. Note the contortions necessary to look up to paragons who are above contempt while simultaneously looking down on the dopes beneath consideration. A pretty slick slope, indeed. The classification of snobs as slobs or nobs is undertaken with fine spirit by our snobographer. Undeniably, perhaps unavoidably, it's all a bit self-referential, with personal dislikes and dropped names. There's wonderful dissing of the likes of Susan Sontag, Joe Alsop, Tina Brown, and the ineffable Mr. Vidal. The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker figure prominently. The author takes the role, not of Eustace Tilley, but of a Jewish innocent in Snobland, while he confesses to a smidgen of Anglophilia. Mark the passing use of such Briticisms as "navvies," "bloody," or "a mug's game." On the other hand, Yiddishisms bloom too, as in "kvell," "allrightnik," and-happy conflation-"Vive le schmuck!" Epstein presents beautifully opinionated epigrams and judgments, sometimes off-base (is The Donald truly uninterested in joining Society?), mostly spot-on andconsistently thoughtful and entertaining. There's no cure for snobbery, but please dispense with the ostentatious Rolex, Mont Blanc, or duds by Prada and enjoy the polemics. By a snob, of snobs, and for snobs: a nice example of the art of the essay.From the Publisher
"[SNOBBERY is] like a chorus line of wonderful observational one-liners . . . All these gems add up to a fun and funny read."—Joan O'C. Hamilton Business Week"[SNOBBERY] is a captivating jeu d'esprit of a book, one that brims over with illuminating perceptions . . ."—Daphne Merkin Elle
"It's hard to criticize a writer who can make you laugh out loud on every third page . . ."—Martha Bayles The New York Times Book Review
"[E]ngaging . . . Epstein [is] one of America's best essayists . . ."—Richard Stengal Time Magazine
". . . [W]onderfully engaging . . . marvelous . . ."—David Brooks The Wall Street Journal
". . . [Epstein] has a wickedly wonderful sense of humor and keen observational skills . . ." Publishers Weekly
"A deliciously readable analysis of the origins of snobbery and its myriad cultural manifestations . . ." Harper's Bazaar