Wasp, Where Is Thy Sting?

This is one of the funniest, and most accurate, books ever written on the once-dominant Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture in America. Weighted to the South (though not so much as King's Southern Ladies and Gentlemen) because of Miss King's Anglo-Southron Washington DC area up-bringing, she explores in her inimitable "pointing up" style a vast number of the details of WASPiness that are common knowledge among WASPs, at least those who are "old stock" WASPs, but utterly unknown to most Catholics (who may be Anglo-Saxon) and non-Anglo-Saxon ethnics -- even those of Northern European stock who generally "pass" as WASPs. If any part of your family comes from the sorts of backgrounds described in the book, you will immediately recognize the types among your relatives. I found a dozen or so, which seems typical. I've given away, or lent and had not returned, probably a dozen copies of this lamentably out-of-print book over the past 20 years since I was first introduced to it by an Episcopal seminarian (how appropriate!) One of Miss King's most seminal services for non-WASPs in this book is her (now somewhat dated) explication of the varieties of Protestantism, and particularly the fact that in many cases denominational affiliation has less to do with specific doctrine than social background and ethnicity. I honestly believe this to be a book that every serious student of American society should read with care.

A superb read - especially the last section on Lizzie Borden, pointing up the WASPishness of the whole thing, even unto the disgusting food (and sanitary) habits of this family, which would be enough to make anyone snap.