Traces the history of American manners, citing the nation's early stand against hierarchical European etiquette, and describing its adoption of a frequently mis

In this "wryly perceptive, historically informed" (BookPage) new book, America's leading expert on civility reminds her Gentle Readers that when the Founding Fa

`This is a highly original and in many ways brilliant text. It is a model of how historical/process sociological research ought to be conducted and written-up.

Most of the existing research on economic history relies either solely or ultimately on calculations of material interest to explain the major events of the mod

This book explores the idea that table activities--the mealtime rituals of food preparation, serving, and dining--lay the foundation for a proper education on t