Publisher's Synopsis
Karen Halttunen draws a vivid picture of the social and cultural development of the upwardly mobile middle class in mid-nineteenth-century America, basing her study on a survey of the conduct manuals and fashion magazines of the times.
"Halttunen has done her homework-the research has been tremendous, the notes and bibliography are impressive, and the text is peppered with hundreds of quotes-and gives some real insight into an area of American culture and history where we might have never bothered to look."-John Hopkins, Times Literary Supplement
"The kind of imaginative history that opens up new questions, that challenges conventional historical understanding, and demonstrates how provocative and exciting cultural history can be."-William R. Leach, The New England Quarterly
"A stunning contribution to American cultural history."-Alan Trachtenberg