Linguists have become increasingly interested in examining how class culture is socially constructed and maintained through spoken language. Julie Lindquist's examination of the linguistic ethnography of a working-class bar in Chicago is an important and original contribution to the field.

Julie LindquistAssistant Professor of English, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg

"Too much has been made, in recent thought, of the vanishing public sphere. Too little has been made of the role of the tavern in creating and sustaining the public, especially in early American life. Lindquist's valuable work can add to both these areas of inquiry. It can also inform larger questions about what it is we yearn for when we imagine effective public language and viable political identity."--Language in Society |k No