SOURCE: Bromwich, David. “Victoria's Secret.” New Republic 212, no. 20 (15 May 1995): 28.

In the following review, Bromwich observes that the chief scholarly interest of The De-Moralization of Society is in Himmelfarb's polemic against historians who “denounce Victorian society for its coercive ideology.” Bromwich, however, comments that Himmelfarb oversimplifies the issues she raises.

Gertrude Himmelfarb believes American society is close to a crisis of disorder, and this state of things demands that we take manners seriously. In a tranquil time, manners, which Hobbes called “small morals,” do not require much reflection; but good manners are never their own reward, and bad manners are never their own punishment. They are the motion on the surface that tells of a life beneath. That a racist remark among educated persons is felt to be low may be an achievement of manners only, but the achievement has a power over conduct that could hardly be equaled...