Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness

The author of Armchair Nation and On Roads examines shyness in a"sparkling cultural history rang[ing]from Jane Austen to Silicon Valley" (The Guardian).

Shyness is a pervasive human trait: even most extroverts know what it is like to stand tongue-tied at the fringe of an unfamiliar group or flush with embarrassment at being the unwelcome center of attention. And yet the cultural history of shyness has remained largely unwritten—until now.

With incisiveness, passion, and humor, Joe Mora...