"Richard Stengel takes us on a tour, from chimps to the God of the Old Testament (who craved flattery but never got it), to the troubadour poets of the Middle Ages (who invented the sappy cliches of romantic flattery), all the way through Dale Carnegie (flattery will get you everywhere) and Monica Lewinsky's adoring love letters to her Big Creep (faux insults are also a form of flattery).".

"Stengel sees public flattery as an epidemic in our society and private praise as being all too scarce. Most often though, flattery these days is just a harmless deception, a victimless crime that often ends up making both the giver and the receiver feel a little better."--BOOK JACKET.