Skip to content

Hotel America : Scenes in the Lobby of the Fin-de-Siecle
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Hotel America : Scenes in the Lobby of the Fin-de-Siecle Hardcover - 1995

by Lapham, Lewis H

  • Used

Description

Verso Books. Used - Very Good. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.
Used - Very Good
NZ$13.94
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 4 to 8 days
More Shipping Options
Ships from Better World Books (Indiana, United States)
The BIBLIO Guarantee | Ask Seller a Question

About Better World Books Indiana, United States

Biblio member since 2005
Seller rating: This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.

Better World Books is the world's leading socially conscious online bookseller and has sold over 100 million books. Each sale generates funds for global literacy and education initiatives. We offer low prices, fast shipping, and have a 100% money back guarantee, if you are not completely satisfied.

Terms of Sale:

Better World Books wants every single one of its customers to be happy with their purchase. If you are not satisfied your purchase or simply find out that it was not the book you were looking for, please e-mail us at: help@betterworldbooks.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible with directions on how to return the book to our warehouse. Please keep in mind that because we deal mostly in used books, any extra components, such as CDs or access codes, are usually not included. CDs: If the book does include a CD, it will be noted in the book's description ("With CD!"). Otherwise, there is no CD included, even if the term is used in the book's title. Access Codes: Unless the book is described as "New," please assume that the book does *not* have an access code.

Browse books from Better World Books

Details

  • Title Hotel America : Scenes in the Lobby of the Fin-de-Siecle
  • Author Lapham, Lewis H
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Pages 378
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Verso Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date September 1995
  • Features Index
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 39714971-6
  • ISBN 9781859849521 / 1859849520
  • Weight 1.76 lbs (0.80 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.51 x 6.47 x 1.41 in (24.16 x 16.43 x 3.58 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 95-21592
  • Dewey Decimal Code 973.92

From the rear cover

In Hotel America, Lewis Lapham draws a portrait of a society at a loss to know what to think or make of itself at the end of a century once defined as America's own. His observations speak to the moral and intellectual confusions visited upon the American ruling elites - in the media and the universities as well as in business and government - during the years 1989-1995. The spectacle is both comic and sad, a march of folly that calls forth Lapham's unique range of talents as an essayist - clarity of mind, acerbic wit, a thorough knowledge of American history (both ancient and modern), a sense of the absurd, a gift for the apt word and memorable phrase. Drawn across a broad canvas of incidental and scene. Lapham's sketches take as their occasions events as different from one another as the wars in Panama and the Persian Gulf, the apotheosis of Richard Nixon and the transfiguration of O. J. Simpson, the grim inspections of the American soul conducted by the agents of both the pious left (no smoking cigarettes, no dirty water in the swimming pools, condoms in the schools) and the zealous right (no serial murders in the movies, no lesbians in the army, prayer in the schools), the media's use of history as wallpaper and elevator music, the dwindling significance of President Clinton (vanishing as mysteriously as the Cheshire cat) and the bombastic arrival of Newt Gingrich ("a man for all grievances"), the practice of swindling the stockholders and the art of changing gossip into news.

Categories

Media reviews

“A wonderful book.”—New York Times Book Review

“Few writers match Lapham's witty, entertaining style, and his insight into the issues of the period. Entertaining reading: strongly recommended.”—Library Journal

“Lapham ... is one of the few practicing masters of the political essay. His essays are insightful, original and witty ... [Hotel America provides] a necessary reminder of how the country really works.”—Toronto Globe and Mail

“Lapham refuses to talk down to his audience, much less cozy up to its ignorance and prejudices ... Nor will he surrender a jot of his wit, erudition and style.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Lapham's portraits of his country are astute and his dry wit as sharp as a knife.”—Times

“The essays in this anthology ... have in common with Lapham’s brilliance, acerbic wit, and disdain for all those who ‘defend the sanctity of myth against the heresy of fact’ ... Lapham believes that ‘a raucous assembly of citizens unafraid to speak their minds’ prods Americans to think creatively about their future. This raucous assembly of one proves the point.”—Kirkus Review

Citations

  • Kirkus Reviews, 09/15/1995, Page 1329
  • Library Journal, 10/15/1995, Page 79
  • New York Times, 11/12/1995, Page 56

Hang on… we’re fetching the requested page.