Friendship

An Expose

Joseph Epstein

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN:
  9780547527116
• Subtopic: Essays in Sociology

The amusing and erudite anatomy of modern friendship, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Snobbery.

Is it possible to have too many friends? Is your spouse supposed to be your best friend? How far should you go to help a friend in need? And how do you end a friendship that has run its course?
 
In a "smart, delightfully literate, and sophisticated" anatomy of friendship in all its contemporary guises, Joseph Epstein uncovers the rich and surprising truths about our favored companions ( Los Angeles Times). Friendship illuminates those complex, wonderful relationships without which we'd all be lost.
 
"Reading [Epstein] is like spending an evening being flatteringly entertained by the most interesting guy at the party." — The Seattle Times
 
"A brilliant and outspoken commentator . . . Epstein's graceful style and irrepressible wit provide unalloyed pleasure." — Chicago Tribune
 
"Brisk and delightful." — The Wall Street Journal

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Foreword
• A Little Taxonomy of Friends
• A Charming Gift for False Intimacy
• Best Friends
• The Quickest Way to Kill Friendships
• Friends—Who Needs ’Em?
• An Extremely Sketchy History of Friendship
• Reciprocity, or Is It Obligation?
• A Friendship Diary: Adulation, Stimulation, Obligation
• Pity Is at the Bottom of Women
• Boys Will Be Boys
• Petty Details vs. Eternal Verities
• Disparate Friends
• Cliques and Clans and Communities
• Talking the Talk
• Techno-Friendships
• Friendship’s New Rival
• Broken Friendships
• Friendlessness
• Is There an Art of Friendship?
• A Bibliographical Note
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author