Rating: 
Summary: Would have been better minus the grammatical mistakes
Review: Overall an enjoyable and largely accurate account of snobbery based on the American social class system, but I was annoyed by the consistent mistakes in grammar, especially given that they were made by someone who has been an English professor at a respected university for more than 20 years. There are many better books on this subject matter, but "Snobbery" is a well-researched, entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good book for Statusticians [sic]
Review: Overall, this was a good, light read. The book is, in essence, a long, witty personal essay about snobbery in America. As some other reviewers below have noted, it's slightly redundant, and it seems like it could have been trimmed down a bit to make a pithy 50 page article. But Epstein's tour though snobbery was enjoyable. The book has three main parts. First, Epstein reviews definitions of snobbery, considers how it has changed over time, and then he delves into the various areas that are used by snobs today as bases of status. What follows is a summary of the book's main points: The essence of snobbery is that you want to impress people, to make yourself feel superior at the expense of other people. The dictionary definition is one with an "exaggerated respect for social position or wealth, and a disposition to be ashamed of socially inferior connections; behaves with servility to social superiors, and judges merit by externals; person despising those whose attainments or tastes he considers inferior to his own." Snobs live in a world of relentless one-upmanship; his only standard is one of comparison, competition, and rivalry. The snob is always positioning himself, trying to gain ground on his superiors, distancing his perceived inferiors. A snobs high standards are tools used in an attempt to impress others, rather than as ends in themselves. Snobs respect the trappings of status: social class, money, style, taste, fashion, attainments, prestige, power, glamorous careers & possessions, memberships in exclusive clubs and groups, name-dropping, celebrities, socially favorable marriages. Ironically, however, the snob's quest for status leaves him powerless, for status is not in the possession of it's holder, but in the eyes of the beholder; you cannot convey status on yourself, others must do that. Snobs hope that others will take him at his own extravagant self-valuation; he needs confirmation, acceptance, and fears rejection. For snobs, the wrong opinion, family, schools, connections, clothes, taste, or manners is more than stupid - it's a disqualification. Epstein also asserts that the basis of snobbery has changed over the last century. The old WASP-ocracy, with its emphasis on lineage, Ivy League schools, exclusive neighborhoods and work at law & Wall St firms, has declined for a variety of reasons. In its place, Epstein asserts, the emphasis on taste, style, and being "with it" has increased. Consumption patterns began to replace social class as an organizing principle of society. Taste -- in politics, food, clothes, culture, opinions -- betrays social class, personal aspirations, self-conceptions. These are the remaining grounds for snobbery today. Finally, why does snobbery persist? Snobbery thrives in democracies, in fact, because social mobility allows one to rise, as well as fall. The quest to rise and do better than one's parents is a central part of American culture, and the societal hope is that quest for prestige will drive people to higher levels of achievement. Fear of falling, as well, drives many to snobbery. Until we reach the day when society is fair, kind an generous, and nobody needs reassurance of their worth, then snobbery will exist. Epstein also reminds us, however, that status is a side dish of life, not the main course, and that the best way to gain prestige in a snobbish world not to care about it at all.
Rating:
Summary: A Good book for Statusticians [sic]
Review: Overall, this was a good, light read. The book is, in essence, a long, witty personal essay about snobbery in America. As some other reviewers below have noted, it's slightly redundant, and it seems like it could have been trimmed down a bit to make a pithy 50 page article. But Epstein's tour though snobbery was enjoyable. The book has three main parts. First, Epstein reviews definitions of snobbery, considers how it has changed over time, and then he delves into the various areas that are used by snobs today as bases of status. What follows is a summary of the book's main points: The essence of snobbery is that you want to impress people, to make yourself feel superior at the expense of other people. The dictionary definition is one with an "exaggerated respect for social position or wealth, and a disposition to be ashamed of socially inferior connections; behaves with servility to social superiors, and judges merit by externals; person despising those whose attainments or tastes he considers inferior to his own." Snobs live in a world of relentless one-upmanship; his only standard is one of comparison, competition, and rivalry. The snob is always positioning himself, trying to gain ground on his superiors, distancing his perceived inferiors. A snobs high standards are tools used in an attempt to impress others, rather than as ends in themselves. Snobs respect the trappings of status: social class, money, style, taste, fashion, attainments, prestige, power, glamorous careers & possessions, memberships in exclusive clubs and groups, name-dropping, celebrities, socially favorable marriages. Ironically, however, the snob's quest for status leaves him powerless, for status is not in the possession of it's holder, but in the eyes of the beholder; you cannot convey status on yourself, others must do that. Snobs hope that others will take him at his own extravagant self-valuation; he needs confirmation, acceptance, and fears rejection. For snobs, the wrong opinion, family, schools, connections, clothes, taste, or manners is more than stupid - it's a disqualification. Epstein also asserts that the basis of snobbery has changed over the last century. The old WASP-ocracy, with its emphasis on lineage, Ivy League schools, exclusive neighborhoods and work at law & Wall St firms, has declined for a variety of reasons. In its place, Epstein asserts, the emphasis on taste, style, and being "with it" has increased. Consumption patterns began to replace social class as an organizing principle of society. Taste -- in politics, food, clothes, culture, opinions -- betrays social class, personal aspirations, self-conceptions. These are the remaining grounds for snobbery today. Finally, why does snobbery persist? Snobbery thrives in democracies, in fact, because social mobility allows one to rise, as well as fall. The quest to rise and do better than one's parents is a central part of American culture, and the societal hope is that quest for prestige will drive people to higher levels of achievement. Fear of falling, as well, drives many to snobbery. Until we reach the day when society is fair, kind an generous, and nobody needs reassurance of their worth, then snobbery will exist. Epstein also reminds us, however, that status is a side dish of life, not the main course, and that the best way to gain prestige in a snobbish world not to care about it at all.
Rating:
Summary: Very uneven
Review: Some of the chapters in this book interest the reader and provoke a lot of chuckles but others infuriate the reader and seem like ramblings down a path of self-indulgence. The chapters tend to have a predictable pattern. First Epstein introduces a concept relating to snobbery, then he discusses his own involvement in snobbery, then he considers some friends of his, finally he concludes by saying that it isn't so bad after all (at which point the reader may imagine that he is attempting to perform irony).
Rating:
Summary: Very uneven
Review: Some of the chapters in this book interest the reader and provoke a lot of chuckles but others infuriate the reader and seem like ramblings down a path of self-indulgence. The chapters tend to have a predictable pattern. First Epstein introduces a concept relating to snobbery, then he discusses his own involvement in snobbery, then he considers some friends of his, finally he concludes by saying that it isn't so bad after all (at which point the reader may imagine that he is attempting to perform irony).
Rating: 
Summary: Author is a snob, too
Review: The book had some enjoyable and interesting bits, but the author goes on and on about himself to an extent that soon becomes tedious. It is obvious that he is a dreadful snob, although he claims to have reformed. I shudder to think of what he would have been like before his reformation.
Rating: 
Summary: Snobbery as described by a snob.
Review: The first part of this book is OK, if a little boring. It describes what many of us already know about the class system in America and has some information about tastes, etc. The second part is a barely-veiled cheerleading session to Mr. Epstein's tastes and opinions. If you want to learn about what Mr. Epstein's opinions are on topics such as being "with it", name dropping, and food and wine, then this is the book for you. If you were looking for an objective look at snobbery, then you're about to purchase the wrong book. In the chapter on Anglophilia and Francophilia, Mr. Epstein admits "my own taste has run more strongly to Anglo- than to Francophilia." He then lists the reasons why he's an Anglophile and follows that up with a nice bad-mouthing of the French. There is no objective evidence to back up his opinions, but his opinions are written to seem as if they are facts. He says "Francophilia isn't aristocratic on nature or impulse." In contrast, he says that "It's the aristocratic air - social or intellectual, usually both - that Anglophiles often admire." Isn't it possible that an aristocracy may not be worthy of admiration? Isn't it possible that the people who are truly worthy of admiration are those who throw off useless and hurtful customs and traditions? Mr. Epstein doesn't seem to think so. In his chapter on political snobs, Mr. Epstein calls those who believe their views to be morally superior "virtucrats." It would seem to me that this condition would be found all over the political spectrum, but Mr. Epstein focuses most of his attention on the left saying that the left thinks itself to be "the side of the heart." In his defense, he does say that the extreme right suffers from this condition as well, but what are we to make of someone in the center-right? If you believe Mr. Epstein, these people suffer from no delusions of moral superiority. Anyone who has heard President Bush (who markets himself as a center-right politician) talk about why it would be morally wrong not to go to war with Iraq knows this is hogwash. Like another reviewer of this book, I also wish I could get my money back.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and Delightful
Review: These days if I'm going to write a review on Amazon -- what with its annoyingly inconsistent/laughable censorship policies -- it's because I've had a very strong reaction to a specific book or recording and couldn't forbear. Such is Epstein's book. It's a great read. It's original, provocative and insightful. The author has thought long and hard about the subject, and there is much here that is new. Though the author is a college lecturer, there is thankfully nothing that is remotely academic about his writing. Rather, Epstein's approach and style shares much in common with the conversational informality of Montaigne. To clear up a few misconceptions perpetrated by other reviewers:
1) Epstein is most emphatically not a snob. Rather, he is admirably honest about areas where he inclines to what may be regarded as a snobbish outlook, whereas genuine snobs generally lack this sort of self-insight. 2) This book is by no means "light-reading." While it is witty and compulsively readable, many of its insights are profound and will get you thinking about ways in which snobbery has infiltrated your own thinking. 3) "Snobbery," the way Epstein regards it, is by no means a synonym for "elitism," and the book is mercifully free of politically correct cant that would equate the two. All in all, Epstein IS an elitist in the sense that he has the sense and discrimination to accurately gauge relative value in cultural matters, but he is far too honest to be considered a snob.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain boring
Review: This book just did not hold my interest. It is a literary examination about snobbery in all its forms and root causes. Therefore, the author develops these ponderous essays on different sub-topics that dawdle and go nowhere. I could have cut the length of this book in half and gotten the same knowledge. The author's examples from his own life start to become tiresome. Instead, I wish the author had developed other, juicy examples of snobbery of the elite classes worth dishing about. I actually got on learning about snobbery from Toby Young's book, "How to loose friends and Alienate people", which shows the shallowness of the New York literary scene in the late 90's. I would recommend this book if you want to understand on a conceptual level what snobbery is about in its complete underbelly, but I would not recommend this book as an entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Perfectamundo
Review: This is a pretty amusing piece of work. It's written by a Jew who wants to be a WASP. So it's got a pretty classy style. It's unfortunate that Herr Dktr. Prof. Epstein did not go into why the WASP snobs gave up so easily for their minority replacements. And also why the replacement just doesn't work. I think he suggests that we need a notion of objective good taste. Alas, we've got 2500 years of people trying to articulate what this is and no one has ever come close to giving a satisfying answer. Given the current state of technology and the fact that people's attention spans last as long as a pop song (because that's all their capable of), this decline of objective good taste is inevitable. This means that the best we're ever going to get is an oscillation between the milquetoast New Age snobbery of the Oprah fan and the mean-spirited macho snobbery of the Maxim lad. The trick is going to be to find a balance. All of which brings me to the real disagreement I have with Herr Dktr Prof E: You can too be a beer snob because Guiness is good for you. (How the heck did he manage to recall every little phrase Proust said about snobbery?!)
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