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...