The perceived breakdown of civility has in recent years become a national obsession, and our modern climate of boorishness has cultivated a host of etiquette watchdogs, like Miss Manners and Martha Stewart, who defend us against an onslaught of nastiness.
Touching on aspects of both our public and private lives, including work, family, and sex, literary and social critic and Professor of English at Fordham University, Mark Caldwell, has spent many years examining how the rules of behavior inevitably change and explains why, no matter how hard we try, we can never return to a golden era of civilized manners and mores. He is the author of the book: A Short History of Rudeness. He says, through his research, he has ultimately concluded – that this is all cyclical.
Agreeing to Disagree: Civility in Public Discourse is funded in part by MASS Humanities.
