Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Perils of Politeness: A Life of Lord Chesterfield

The Perils of Politeness: A Life of Lord Chesterfield

Wendorf, Richard

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralHistorical FiguresBritish History

Publisher Price: $39.00

PREORDER - Expected ship date February 10, 2027

ISBN10: 183639263X
ISBN13: 9781836392637
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: Feb 10 2027
Pages: 376
Weight: 1.00
Language: English

A comprehensive biography of Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, a major political, literary, and cultural force in eighteenth century Britain.

Statesman, wit, writer, and arbiter of taste, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) was one of the most influential--and divisive--figures of Georgian Britain. As Lord Macaulay later observed, Chesterfield was what no person in our time has been or can be, a great political leader and at the same time the acknowledged chief of the fashionable world. This is the first full-scale biography of Chesterfield in nearly a century, drawing on previously unpublished material to reassess his political career, literary output, and enduring fascination. Richard Wendorf offers a nuanced reading of Chesterfield's celebrated letters to his son and examines his embodiment of the virtues and perils of politeness, revealing a figure whose views on sex, marriage, women, and hypocrisy continue to provoke lively debate.

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