SOURCE: Karnick, S. T. “Feeling Superior: Looking Down Is the Best Revenge.” American Spectator 35, no. 5 (September-October 2002): 70-2.

In the following review, Karnick discusses the subject matter of Snobbery, finding Epstein's argument flawed in some areas.

There is no learning experience quite so delightful and memorable as the discovery of another person's flaws. That is probably what makes snobbery such a fundamental constituent of human relations. As essayist Joseph Epstein notes in his new book Snobbery: The American Version, the essence of snobbism is in “arranging to make yourself feel superior at the expense of other people.” Thus he succinctly identifies both the impulse and its general means of expression.

The desire Epstein describes has been common throughout human history: the wish to have others look up to us. The means of fulfilling this craving are multifarious, but fall into two basic categories: the association of oneself with ostensibly...