The Decline and Fall of Whist: An Old Fashioned View of New Fangled Play

"The Decline and Fall of Whist: An Old Fashioned View of New Fangled Play" by John Petch Hewby is a passionate argument, shared with a bit of humor, from the 1800s about the card game Whist. The book longs for the good old days of Whist, strongly disagreeing with the new rules and ways of playing that Hewby thinks are ruining the game. It probably talks about how Whist started, how it changed, and why the author hates the modern ways of playing. Hewby talks about "wooden arrangements," or rules he thinks are dumb, that are making the game worse. He checks out what people are doing at the time, like focusing on playing the most cards of one suit instead of the strongest ones, and using too many signals that stop players from thinking for themselves. Throughout the book, Hewby names important people from Whist's history, comparing their ideas to the new ones he thinks are wrong. The book is both a defense of old-school Whist and a plea to go back to playing the game with more skill and thought.