Cover of The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities

The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities

by Richard L. Bushman · 1992

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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 Americanewly illuminates every facet of both our artifacts and our values.

Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Themes
American historyAmerican historyMore like thisLess of this
Setting
American RevolutionAmerican RevolutionMore like thisLess of thisUSAUSAMore like thisLess of thiscollegecollegeMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
long · 528 pages

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