Reviews for The Art Of Dancing Historically Illustrated To Which Is Added A Few Hints On Etiquette

The average rating for The Art Of Dancing Historically Illustrated To Which Is Added A Few Hints On Etiquette based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-04-08 00:00:00 Roy Tampubolon Martineau's reflections on observing the morals and manners of the peoples and places through which one travels is a study of her own faith, class, and time in its guiding wisdom. It is a self-consciously philosophical text, written to stimulate ethical reflection and conversation as well as change the writing of travel literature. Reflective readers will want to dwell on the questions her text asks us in today's digitally connected and globalized world, one which she was traveling in its beginning wave of industrializing empire. How do we assess what is good and moral? Is there a single morality and good that can be measured and attained in a variety of cultures and ways? Martineau gives her answers, which are rooted in a progressivist Unitarian faith, one evaluating societies as primitive or advanced or somewhere along the developmental way. Are her answers of the good society - charity, liberty, equality, community - yours?

Review # 2 was written on 2020-02-15 00:00:00 Julio Bonilla In How to Observe: Morals and Manners, Martineau sets out to write a guide for the well-intentioned traveler, and in doing so sheds light on her understanding of human nature and society. While she does give practical advice on how a good traveler should behave, such as walking as opposed to other forms of travel like carriage, or learning the native language, the book appears to stress something that might not be readily teachable. To be a good observer, one must be able to sympathize with the observed. The observer must be able to recognize the shared connection of humanity between one another, and only then will the observer have a better understanding of what is. Martineau makes a great point, one that I don't think many would argue against, but it does bring in to question, how does one really know if they are truly sympathetic? Overall, the importance of cultural relativism is stressed throughout, with consistent appeals to humanity, an important message in the global age. Further, Martineau makes an interesting connection between morals and manners, in that they are inherently tied to one another. I understand this to represent a duality between the internal and external. While, morals are an individuals' internal value system, manners are the external behaviors representing this system. When manners are separated from morals, they have no meaning, and observation of manners only, means nothing. Thus, I believe here, Martineau calls for all observers to dig deeper; what is happening on the surface means nothing if one does not sympathetically observe the greater meaning behind these actions.