Bowing to Necessities: A History of Manners in America, 1620-1860 by C. Dallett Hemphill (Professor of History, Professor of History, Ursinus College)
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.