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| Letitia Baldrige's New Manners for New Times: A Complete Guide to Etiquette | 
 enlarge | Author: Letitia Baldrige
Creator: Denise Cavalieri Fike
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $21.00
You Save: $14.00 (40%)
New (18) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $16.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 43567
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 736
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 074321062X
Dewey Decimal Number: 395
EAN: 9780743210621
ASIN: 074321062X
Publication Date: November 18, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MANNERS, REVISED AND UPDATED TO ACCOMODATE TODAY'S HIGH-SPEED LIFESTYLES, SHIFTING VALUES, AND EVER-EVOLVING DEFINITION OF FAMILY. Letitia Baldrige is universally recognized as the country's leading authority on executive, domestic, and social manners. She began writing on manners and protocol during her diplomatic service in 1949, and she has been hailed on the cover of Time magazine as "America's leading arbiter of manners." Originally published in 1989, her Complete Guide to New Manners has now been thoroughly revised and updated to incorporate the changing social conventions and enormous technological advances of the past fifteen years. Baldrige was the first etiquette writer to advise extensively on the subject of manners in the workplace. With her legendary background in both the government and business worlds, she remains the prime authority on the integration of goals that often seem at odds with one another -- namely, family, work, and pleasure. Baldrige provides fresh guidelines on etiquette at work and in every form of communication, from letters to emails to cell phone calls. She also updates the way we approach the traditional rites of passage -- weddings, funerals, religious ceremonies, gatherings large and small. Here are authoritative answers to the etiquette questions and issues involved in nontraditional family relationships -- stepfamilies, adult children returning home, elderly parents moving in, gays and lesbians in the family, dating for the newly single, and the myriad complications that spring from divorce. Through it all, Baldrige does not forget the essence of manners: they are an expression of love and care, and they are under our control. New Manners for New Times is a comprehensive encyclopedia that will lead readers confidently and correctly through the maze of lifestyles, customs, business, and ways of relating to others in this new, complex millennium. But it is, above all, a very personal statement.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Most Useful Book EVER!! October 2, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is terrific. It has everything in it. Before I do anything (go to a wedding, a funeral, write a thank you note or condolence note, throw a party), I look it up in this book. It really is wonderful. I never feel as though I don't know what to do. She gives advice for how to dress, how to act, what to say when you are at a loss for words, and anything else you need.
I'm not an upper-crust socialite, and this book is my guide to life. I love it and would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone.
A great pickup January 11, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you're looking for just one etiquette reference, this is the one. It touches on everything without being intimidatingly exhaustive. Baldridge offers additional helpful thoughts on situations one is likely to encounter in today's life--multicultural celebrations, funerals in other traditions, wedding invitations to same-sex couples--without being sappy or condescending. Having perused several similar books, I also found that this one has the best treatment of business and professional etiquette. Easy to read, entertaining, helpful, and never loses sight of the main point. Was an excellent gift for my soon-to-graduate-college sister--those pesky etiquette dilemmas start popping up quickly.
 A very specialized, uppercrust view of manners January 2, 2007
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Author Letitia Baldrige worked as Social Secretary to an ambassador in Paris, Special Assistant to an ambassador in Rome, and the Social Secretary to the White House and chief of staff for Jaqueline Kennedy - and this book reads like it.
If you live on Manhattan's swanky Upper Eastside, throw lavish dinner parties for visiting dignitaries, and vie for a place on a high profile hospital or not-for-profit board this is the book for you. If, on the other hand, you feel a little clueless about the basic rules of etiquette and would like to use the right fork at a fancy dinner party, you might want to try a book like "Etiquette for Dummies." Baldrige comes across as a very warm and friendly person. She write eloquently and engagingly about the very heart of etiquette - respecting other people's feelings and acting accordingly. But most readers really don't need a book of this length that outlines the proper behavior for dinner with the president (no exaggeration). Comprehensive - yes. Entirely practical to most mere mortals - no.
Manners Are Lacking In Today's World. November 23, 2005
10 out of 62 found this review helpful
In this updated guide to ettiquette for modern times, she addresses marriage etiquette in "blended" families. In her NEW Etiquette for Executives, which is a bit outdated, a woman should dress according to her profession. Seeing a woman move up the ranks at the local transit system, going from old-fashioned denim dress with boots to cover the rest of her, to dressing like a common street walker, I had to make a comment, "You need to dress professional." Her boss, attired in orange pants and ball cap at a special "Meet the Manager" day, dressed down to what he perceived is the level of the riders; he asked me, "Do you think I should be wearing a suit?" and I merely said, "I will tell you what I did Ms. P, "You should dress professional." The rudeness of some transit employees show their disrespect for the older person of different races and for their job. When we get on that bus, our lives are in the hands of these rude, surly, prejudiced persons who say derogatory remarks to and about passengers in front of others. They can refuse to stop to pick you up at their discretion, and they take advantage of that. It's not just bad manners. It shows how regressed a certain percentage of the population has become. They are ignorant and uneducated, and show it.
A man should never wear frayed shirt collars and cuffs no matter what the occasion is. I saw a local celebrity on the sidewalk outside his office with a torn place on his pants leg. Some people have no pride in their work or position in the community. Her advice: "Know who you are" and dress accordingly. In the Northeast, you must never wear white shoes and accessories after Labor Day, but that doesn't apply to the South.
A good rule for both sexes is 'Never dress in clothes that are too tight; they make a thin person look gaunt and a large person twice as heavy. Well said.' Those people not interested in how they are perceived dress according to the weather and, even in public, wear ill-fitting casual wear. If they could just see themselves from the rear!
Ms. Baldrige has lived a glamorous life as a diplomat for the United States government, has been there, done that, and knows how to help others to act in a manner befitting a Queen. Her non-fiction book, OF DIAMONDS AND DIPLOMATS, relates her years with the Kennedy administration.
A Tastefully Inclusive, Dignified Way To Live February 13, 2004
58 out of 68 found this review helpful
I originally requested this book for Christmas because of both Ms. Baldrige's conservative reputation and the fact that it was said to address the roles of gays and lesbians in the family. I was not disappointed. It is a fabulous general etiquette book that my mother could respect and would read. And it includes my lifestyle too! With so much controversy going about these days regarding the definition of family, Ms. Baldrige provides us with guidelines that allow all of us to congregate in peace and without shame. Her anecdotes effectively illustrate her points and are quite funny at times. She also obviously knows how to have a good time-- and in a way that is level-headed and won't alienate those at the more conservative end of the spectrum. Ms. Baldrige is one of those sort of people you really have to work hard to dislike. And her years of experience lead to a wise commentary that is hardly dated. In her own way, she gives all family members permission to love one another without a bunch of anxiety over who is doing what that isn't anyone's business anyway. And she provides all the tools you need, in the form of advice, to throw a great party. When's the next family reunion? I actually want to go now! :-)
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