The American Chesterfield: Expansive Civility

There was a time when how to use finger bowls and napkin rings was part of education. In dispensing with archaic manners, we seem to have also dispensed with the common sense sensitivity that among other advantages made possible political discourse without viciousness. Decorum has been jettisoned, often with the excuse that the times are different. The end result has been stress instead of kindness, the evaporation of care and consideration, and gross inefficiency in solving problems rather...