Simple Social Graces: Recapturing the Lost Art of Gracious Victorian Living

by Linda S. Lichter

Book Overview

We can go home again, and not just to the hearthbut to the art of love and the art of civilized living. . .Imagine a time when common courtesy was a standard for all, when a genuine moral authority... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060391707
• ISBN13: 9780060391706
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Gracious and Comprehensive

It's a shame that this book is out of print. It is well worth the hunt to locate a copy if you are interested in learning just about all there is to know about the Victorian era. The Victorian era was a time when the "culture of character" was the national goal. Victorians followed widely accepted moral codes and sought to create a self that was worthy of esteem. Ms. Lichter compares the consistent beliefs and cultural values of the Victorians against today's high levels of self indulgence, narcissism as well as the recent culture of victims. The Victorians shared ideals of character. Today, we satisfy our impulses rather than overcome them. Ms.Lichter also sheds new light on so called repressed Victorian sexuality. They were neither repressed nor prudish according to the author. Ms. Lichter shows that the major difference between modern day Americans and the Voctorians is that the Victorians simply believed that sexual matters were private. This is in sharp contrast to today's public and highly impersonal open book attitudes.This is a highly informative book, and I loved it.

Great stuff!

I think that this is a wonderful book. It really brings home in an undeniably strong way just how far civilization has come in the last 100 or so years - mostly for the worse when it comes to manners and behavior. It also points out that some things have even come full-circle, and that fragments of Victorian values are being recommended to people as "the latest thinking".My mother will love this book, many of the complaints and frustrations she has about "people/life today" are repeated in this book, but put into historical context, and with an armarda of examples illustrating how the Victorians did it better, and why it worked. I find it hard to argue with the author! She makes me feel as though I'd love living back in the Victorian age.I find this a compelling read, and so does my girlfriend - and we're "offspring of baby-boomer" age, probably one of the very few in our age group that would care less about social graces. Buy the book - even if you don't agree with the arguments, you'll have a very lively read with plenty of thought-provoking ideas and recollections.

The Decline of Civility at its Best

& #65279;It is the best decline of civility etiquette book that I have read. Written by a female who boldly knocks the women's liberation movement. It is very pithy and articulate. It has shown me how to serve others by simply being civil.I don't agree that she should follow her own advice. She obviously was being blunt for the effect (i.e., making a point). The book does contain strong language.