Note on the Text vii 1. The stars' tennis balls: or, a short introduction from an unusual angle 1 2. 'I'ma get medieval on yo ass': manners in the age of chivalry 9 3. Lubricants and fi lters: 'a kind of lesser morality' 30 4. Godspeed, babe: or, meetings and greetings 41 5. Of courtiers and codpieces: fashioning Renaissance identity 53 6. But who was the Renaissance man? 64 7. Table manners: or, how to eat a cobra's heart 81 8.
The Clothes Show: 'When in doubt, opt for navy' 98 9. Mr Sex 106 10. Not Mr Sex: when 'coffee' doesn't mean coffee 123 11. The elephant and the bad baby: the everyday language of manners 133 12. Spectators and stratagems: the polite, commercial eighteenth century 152 13. Lord Chesterfi eld and the invention of etiquette 165 14. Letters and social change: Jane Austen and Fanny Burney 187 15. The Englishness of English manners 195 16.
Island Man and his discontents: 'They do things differently there' 210 17. Fanny Trollope and the domestic manners of Americans 223 18. 'You're the most important person!': the trouble with children 233 19. What were Victorian values? 240 20. Curb your enthusiasm: new ways for new times 257 21. Creative hubs and 'extreme phenomena': negotiating the modern city 267 22. Location, location, location: the rules of place 276 23. A fl uid world: or, 'Are you suggesting that I should call you Eric?' 284 24.
Technology and the revenge effect 300 25. 'Are we there yet?': manners now 307 Acknowledgements 325 Notes 327 Bibliography 353 Index 379.