Newspaper Article

Snooty us ; Joseph Epstein looks at the changing face of American snobbery

Joseph J Ellis Joseph J Ellis is the author of "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation"

2002

Overview

The story he tells ambles past most of the nervous pretensions of America's upper-middle class. There is job snobbery, where [Joseph Epstein] sticks his stiletto into physicians, academics and corporate executives, all once-esteemed professions that have recently fallen from grace. Educational snobbery, one of my favorites, features Epstein's list of the 20 colleges (including Northwestern University, where Epstein lectures in English and writing) into which overzealous parents would kill to place their kids. (His separate chapter on name-dropping reminded me of the surge I felt when mentioning that my eldest son was at Brown University.) Dog snobbery traces the transition from cocker spaniels to golden retrievers. (Quibble: Epstein has missed the shift from golden retrievers to Jack Russell terriers, both of which I own.) Food snobbery began, he says, with the decline of spaghetti and the rise of pasta. His presentation made me feel guilty for serving red meat to guests and finding Julia Child lovable.

• Publisher: Tribune Publishing Company, LLC
• Subject: Attitudes / Books-titles / Epstein, Joseph / Nonfiction / Snobbery: The American Version