Conversation: A History of a Declining Art

Miller, a freelance writer whose essays on 18th-century writers have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, laments the decline of American conversational arts. By ""conversation,"" Miller means the discussion of great and small topics by people who practice mutual tolerance for opposing viewpoints. The author agrees with philosopher David Hume's view that ""it is impossible but people must feel an increase of humanity, from the very habit of conversing together."" Miller's history is itself much like a pleasant academic conversation as it meanders through a mini-history of coffee-houses in 18th-century Britain, a consideration of poet Thomas Gray's ""Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"" and Miller's displeasure with the counter-culture movement of the American 1960's and the current prevalence of conversation-precluding gadgets. In these latter arguments, he comes off at times as a Luddite, spewing scorn for cell phones and portable MP3 players, and if most of this book is an enjoyable and thought-provoking (if not conversation-provoking) read, Miller does manage a few missteps, as when he points to the taciturn masculinity of Hollywood westerns and Ernest Hemingway's terse writing style to bolster his thesis.