Skip to Main Content (Press Enter) Toggle side nav
The Refinement of America by Richard Lyman Bushman

Look Inside

The Refinement of America

Persons, Houses, Cities

Persons, Houses, Cities

By Richard Lyman Bushman

By Richard Lyman Bushman

By Richard Lyman Bushman

By Richard Lyman Bushman

Best Seller
Paperback $20.00

Aug 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679744146

Ebook $13.99

Sep 21, 2011 | ISBN 9780307761606

All Formats
+
    The Refinement of America by Richard Lyman Bushman
    Paperback $20.00
    Aug 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679744146

    Also available from:

    See All Formats (1) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $20.00

      Aug 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679744146

      Also available from:

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook

      Sep 21, 2011 | ISBN 9780307761606

      Available from:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About The Refinement of America

    This lively and authoritative volume makes clear that the quest for taste and manners in America has been essential to the serious pursuit of a democratic culture. Spanning the material world from mansions and silverware to etiquette books, city planning, and sentimental novels, Richard L. Bushman shows how a set of values originating in aristocratic court culture gradually permeated almost every stratum of American society and served to prevent the hardening of class consciousness. A work of immense and richly nuanced learning, The Refinement of America newly illuminates every facet of both our artifacts and our values.

    About The Refinement of America

    This lively and authoritative volume makes clear that the quest for taste and manners in America has been essential to the serious pursuit of a democratic culture. Spanning the material world from mansions and silverware to etiquette books, city planning, and sentimental novels, Richard L. Bushman shows how a set of values originating in aristocratic court culture gradually permeated almost every stratum of American society and served to prevent the hardening of class consciousness. A work of immense and richly nuanced learning, The Refinement of America newly illuminates every facet of both our artifacts and our values.

    About Richard Lyman Bushman

    Richard Lyman Bushman, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History, Emeritus, at Columbia University, grew up in Portland, Oregon, and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University. He has also taught at Brigham Young University, Boston University, and the University… More about Richard Lyman Bushman

    About Richard Lyman Bushman

    Richard Lyman Bushman, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History, Emeritus, at Columbia University, grew up in Portland, Oregon, and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University. He has also taught at Brigham Young University, Boston University, and the University… More about Richard Lyman Bushman

    Product Details

    Category: Colonial/Revolutionary Period | 19th Century U.S. History

    Paperback | $20.00
    Published by Vintage
    Aug 31, 1993 | 528 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679744146

    Category: Colonial/Revolutionary Period | 19th Century U.S. History

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Vintage
    Sep 21, 2011 | 528 Pages | ISBN 9780307761606

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Buy other books like The Refinement of America

    ‹ ›
    The Stammering Century
    The Stammering Century
    Gilbert Seldes
    Gee's Bend: Get Ready
    Gee’s Bend: Get Ready
    Paulson Fontaine Press and Mary Lee Bendolph
    The Undertaker at Work
    The Undertaker at Work
    Brian Parsons
    Medical London
    Medical London
    Richard Barnett and Mike Jay
    In Small Things Forgotten
    In Small Things Forgotten
    James Deetz
    Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
    Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
    Nat’l Museum African American Hist/Cult and Kathleen M. Kendrick
    Richard Prince
    Richard Prince
    Robert M. Rubin
    A Is for American
    A Is for American
    Jill Lepore
    Senseless Acts of Beauty
    Senseless Acts of Beauty
    George McKay
    The Age of Homespun
    The Age of Homespun
    Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
    Names on the Land
    Names on the Land
    George R. Stewart
    Stanford White in Detail
    Stanford White in Detail
    Samuel G. White
    Seizing Destiny
    Seizing Destiny
    Richard Kluger
    Nature and the Idea of a Man-Made World
    Nature and the Idea of a Man-Made World
    Norman Crowe
    The Making of the English Working Class
    The Making of the English Working Class
    E.P. Thompson
    Ebony G. Patterson
    Ebony G. Patterson
    Tobias Ostrander
    The Making of New World Slavery
    The Making of New World Slavery
    Robin Blackburn
    Contemporary Classical Architecture
    Contemporary Classical Architecture
    The Ugly Renaissance
    The Ugly Renaissance
    Alexander Lee
    Without Sin
    Without Sin
    Spencer Klaw
    Jeffrey Gibson
    Jeffrey Gibson
    John P. Lukavic
    A Brave Vessel
    A Brave Vessel
    Hobson Woodward
    The Many-Headed Hydra
    The Many-Headed Hydra
    Marcus Rediker and Peter Linebaugh
    Outlaws of the Atlantic
    Outlaws of the Atlantic
    Marcus Rediker
    The Story of England
    The Story of England
    Michael Wood
    Northern Armageddon
    Northern Armageddon
    D. Peter MacLeod
    Gee's Bend: Equal Justice
    Gee’s Bend: Equal Justice
    Paulson Fontaine Press and Essie Bendolph Pettway
    Basilica
    Basilica
    R. A. Scotti
    The First Smithsonian Collection
    The First Smithsonian Collection
    Helena E. Wright
    The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
    The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
    Samuel Bawlf
    I Alone Can Fix It
    I Alone Can Fix It
    Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig
    The Anthropocene Reviewed (Signed Edition)
    The Anthropocene Reviewed (Signed Edition)
    John Green

    Praise

    "This important study . . . offers a promising framework for understanding American life."— The New York Times Book Review"From an astonishing array of sources Bushman has pieced together an extraordinarily rich and readable account of the spread of gentility over a century and a half. . . . This is a remarkable book about a subject that is presently emerging as one of the most significant in the history not only of early America but of all early modern Western societies."— Gordon S. Wood, author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution"The scope of this book is enormous. . . . Bushman is a skilled researcher, and he has combed the archives of historical museums for his evidence, which he arranges neatly and intelligently."—Los Angeles Times Book Review"One of the most skillful and sensitive accounts in a fresh field . . . The Refinement of America will fundamentally alter the way we think about the genesis of American civilization."— Michael Kammen, Cornell University

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
    Get the latest updates from Richard Lyman Bushman
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    By clicking SIGN UP, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
    Dismiss
    Thanks!
    Something awesome is on its way.
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook