Not as good as Class, but in the same vein. ( )

United States > Social life and customs >/1971-/Popular culture > United States/Other titles: BAD/Dumbing of America

[BAD] is a curmudgeonly look at American culture in the 80s/90s and is intent on demonstrating how monstrously bad much of it is. Although I didn't agree with all of his analyses, many of them were spot on and hilariously written. His main point is that, as a country, we take the art of being bad and raise it to a new level, that of BAD, which combines poor quality with pretense and pomposity. Since the book was written in the early 90s, it's somewhat dated and I recognized a few things that were problems then but aren't now, and a few that had just shifted (like pagers to cell phones). America bashing usually really puts me off a book, since I'm rather fond of my country, so when I started and realized what I had gotten into, I was a bit annoyed. However, through the contempt and mockery comes a faint whiff of fondness that made me feel like the author doesn't so much hate his country as hate that it's not a great as it should be, a sentiment I can agree with. At times I had to roll my eyes, like when French toilets are favorably compared to American ones (sort of), but it wasn't too slavishly pro-Europe/anti-American, esp compared to some modern social writing. All in all, a funny if dated look at our culture. Everyone should be able to find at least a thing or two to identify with and laugh at, I would hope. ( )

A funny book on taste and class in America. Fussell looks at the gap between appearance and reality and how Americans are so blinded by marketing and insecure about their status, that we accept BAD things. ( )