Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell (1992)

Though beginning to age, cultural and literary historian Paul Fussell's exploration of status in America, and more specifically the ways class is both free from and linked to wealth, is equally entertaining, illuminating and uncomfortable in its felt truths.

He touches on everything from vernacular, hobbies, education, clothing, decor, reading material, dining habits in his prickly climb up and down our perceived social ladder.

If you're predisposed to judginess or hypervigilance (guilty), this book will rock your shit particularly hard.