The Book of Snobs
1848
Thackeray's satirical masterpiece began as anonymous weekly installments in Punch magazine, where it caused an immediate sensation. The great novelist of Vanity Fair turns his laser wit on a universal affliction: snobbery in all its forms. He argues that snobs deserve systematic study, 'like other objects of Natural Science,' and then proceeds to anatomize everyone from the footman who name-drops his master's guests to the aristocrat who traces her lineage to the Conquest. With devastating precision, he dissects the worship of wealth, the terror of appearing common, the pathetic mimicry of one's social superiors. But what elevates the book beyond mere mockery is Thackeray's admission that he himself is a snob, that the disease infects every class and every soul. The wit remains vicious, the observations still uncomfortably accurate. Anyone who has ever checked a neighbor's car or felt superior to a stranger's accent will find themselves unexpectedly seen.
Editions
X-Ray
“You must not judge hastily or vulgarly of Snobs: to do so shows that you are yourself a Snob.””
— William Makepeace Thackeray
“I have long gone about with a conviction on my mind that I had a work to do”
— William Makepeace Thackeray
“Mark to yourself the gradual way in which you have been prepared for, and are now led by an irresistible necessity to enter upon your great labour.””
— William Makepeace Thackeray
“let me whisper my belief, entre nous, that of those eminent philosophers who cry out against parsons the loudest, there are not many who have got their knowledge of the church by going thither often.””
— William Makepeace Thackeray
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21Cite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Book of Snobs. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21.Thackeray, W. M. (1848). The Book of Snobs. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Book of Snobs. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-book-of-snobs-8646a601-e742-4b82-8e37-7ccd72caba21.
