A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals, and Misbehavior in Modern America

Really excellent book on a neglected subject. A bit too focussed on NYC and neglects the South, but overall an excellent read. Highly recommended.

now I'm going to be polite to everybody. woohoo

Caldwell covers the history and contemporary culture of manners (or, rather, the lack thereof). He reminds us that while courtesy is anything but common these days, anything less is uncivilized. Sharp and, even pointed when it needs to be, this book puts etiquette in its place: everywhere. For a teenage view point of contemporary manners, a good title would be Alex Packer's HOW RUDE!-which provides a historical and cultural basis, as well as a practical one, for why teens should behave themselves.

Completely free of the elitism and moralizing that you usually find in etiquette books, Caldwell bypasses the usual bemoaning of how low our standards are, and instead concentrates on how, when, and why standards of polite behavior have changed over the years.