Everyone, Then No One 
David Nasaw
- Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora and the Death of the Hat by Neil Steinberg Buy this book
To paraphrase Roland Barthes, hats are worn to be seen and to be read. They are signs of who we are or want to be. Because hats, unlike shoes or coats, are worn near eye-level, they are the first item of apparel offered for view. The stranger approaching from a distance reads the hat before he sees the face or figure and, at a glance, learns a lot about the person beneath it.
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David Nasaw, the author of a biography of Andrew Carnegie, is Arthur Schlesinger Jr Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
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