Oh my God, Pat Boone's superpowered cringe ray hit me all the way over here and I am shuddering all over. It's horrible even now that I'm no longer a teenager; I cannot imagine how much my teenage self would have despised it. Pass the matches indeed!

How did this book end up on your TBR pile, anyway?

I'd say chuck A Generation of Vipers: there have to be books that condemn forties-era American hypocrisy in clear, short sentences. How good can A Generation of Vipers be as a reference book when you have to slog through heaps of clauses to even figure out what he's trying to say?