heels of liis highly successful collectionrnof css;ivs Whistling Dixie: Dispatchesrnfrom the South, Mr. Reed’s new bookrnpromises to be characteristically entertainingrnand instructive.rnKit Reed’s new collection of shortrnstories. Thief of Lives, was also publishedrnby the llniversity of Missouri Press. I lerrnfourth book of short stories, ‘I’hief ofrnLives brings together an eclectic mix ofrnMs. Reed’s work, some of which (likern”The Garden Club” and “Fourth ofrnJuly”) first appeared in Chronicles.rnMs. Reed, who is also the author of 12rnnovels, was recently commended as “arnresourceful and often witty writer” in arnreview of her new collection for the NewrnYork Times Book Review.rnPrincipalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnGangbustersrnIn ‘ihe Killer Angels, Michael Saara’srnnovel about the battle of Gettysburg,rnthere is a character named ColonelrnArthur Fremantlc, a British military observerrnattached to the Confederaternforces. In part a comic figure, Fremantlernis perpetually perplexed by Americansrnin general and Southerners in particular,rnand he painfully worries himself andrnothers with his seldoni-very-acute perceptions.rnOne thing he can’t understandrnis why all the Southerners hernmeets arc always so polite, and when hernfinally figures it out, he explains his discoveryrnto General Lewis Armistead, whornlater recounts it to his colleagues. “ThatrnFremantle is kind of funny,” says Armistead.rn”lie said that we Southernersrnwere the most polite people he’d everrnmet, but then he noticed wc all of usrncarry guns all the time, wherever wernwent, and he figured that maybe thatrnwas why.”rnFor once, Colonel Fremantle mayrnhave hit upon an important truth, onernthat pertains not only to the antebellumrnSouth but also to human societyrnin general. Armed societies are courteousrnsocieties, and many of history’s mostrnheavily armed social orders besidesrnthe Old South—those of the ancientrnGreeks, medic’al European knights,rnJapanese Samurai, Renaissance courtiers,rnand barely literate cowboys on thernAmerican frontier—have also been notedrnfor the elaborate rituals of courtesyrnand chivalry they practiced. The wordrn”chivalry” itself, now a synonym for thernold-fashioned style of deportment atrnwhich the emancipated strumpets ofrnPresident Clinton’s Cabinet and householdrnsnort, derives from the code of thernhuman battle tanks that rode horsebackrnin the Middle Ages. The reason for thernrelationship between good weapons andrncommon courtesy ought to be clear.rnWith just about everyone you meetrnclanking a syvord or packing a pistol,rnyou’d better mind your manners, andrnyour manners had better be highly formalizedrnin clearly defined, normativernpatterns of conduct that leave no doubtrnabout the benevolence of your intentionsrnand the innocence of your behavior.rnThe converse also appears to be true.rnThe society of late 20th-century Americarnis perhaps the first in human historyrnwhere most groyvn men do not routinelyrnbear arms on their persons and boysrnare not regularly raised from childhoodrnto learn skill in the use of some kindrnof weapon, either for community orrnpersonal defense—club or spear, broadswordrnor longbow, rifle or Bowie knife.rnOurs also happens to be one of the rudestrnand crudest societies in history,rnhaving jubilantly swept most of the ctic]rnuette of speech, table, dress, hospitality,rnregard for fairness, deference to authority,rnand the relations of male andrnfemale and child and elder under thernfraying and filthy carpet of politicallyrnconvenient illusions. With little fear ofrnphysical reprisal, Americans can be asrnloud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, andrnnegligent as they please, “^’ct if morernpeople carried rapiers at their belts orrnrevolvers on their hips, it’s a fair betrnyou’d be able to go to a movie and enjoyrnthe dialogue from the screen withoutrnhaving to endure the small talk, familyrngossip, and assorted bodily noises thatrnmany theater audiences these days reeularlvrnemit.rnThe prospect of a society in whichrnyou can put a bullet between the eyes ofrndrivers who grab a parking space forrnwhich you’ve been waiting or meet underrnthe oaks at dawn characters whornbray sexual and scatological slang in thernhearing of your wife and children inrnrestaurants will no doubt strike mostrnAmericans today as brutal, but the factrnis that that is precisely how most societiesrnin human history have disciplinedrnthemselves. For the most part, of course,rnbloodshed over such slights did not occur,rnbecause the slights themselves didrnnot take place and because most peoplernknew the price they might have tornpay for indulging in the ethic of MernFirst and What’s Yours Is Negotiable.rnToday, discourtesy is commonplace preciselyrnbecause there is no price to payrnfor it. Habitual rudeness is too trivial arndisruption of the social bond for evenrnthe ubiquitous American megastate tornnotice or control, and if it becomes toornunbearable for the dwindling numberrnof Americans who arc repelled by it tornstomach, they simply avoid locationsrnwhere they’re likely to encounter it.rnThey move to the suburbs, which theyrnperhaps imagine are the last redoubtsrnof safety and civility, places where theyrnwon’t have to fight to defend themselvesrnor the way of life they prefer and wherernthey can rely on somebody else to fightrnfor them.rnBut in the last year or so, there havernbeen indications that even that escapernfantasy is being denied to Middle Americansrnas criminals and their close predecessorsrnon the evolutionar- tree of incivility,rnjust plain boors, pursue themrnbeyond the city limits. Last summer inrnsuburban Maryland, a woman who wasrndriving her preschool child to a daycarernMAY 1993/7rnrnrn