Bowing to Necessities

How men and women interact, the respect young show old, and old show young, and who doffs their hat to whom provides a telling window on American cultural history. This study works through two centuries of conduct literature, illuminating class, gender and age relations along the way.

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How men and women interact, the respect young show old and old show young, and who doffs their hat to whom provides a telling window on American cultural history. Bowing To Necessities is the chronologically most wide-ranging study, covering the long period of 1620 to 1860, of its kind. Working through two centuries of conduct literature, Professor Hemphill provides a wonderful retelling of American history to the Civil War, illuminating crucial connections between evolving class, gender, and age relations along the way.