Miss Manners: A Citizen's Guide to Civility [Paperback]

Judith Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 1999

After years of giving it their best shot, most Americans have concluded that an etiquette-free society just isn't the fun it was thought to be. The citizens are clamoring for a return to civility. Hearing their cry, Miss Manners has revised, edited, and updated her most authoritative work on how to behave like a decent human being--Miss Manner Rescues Civilization--for its paperback version.
        
In it, Miss Manners demonstrates etiquette's essential role of settling our inevitable social differences without the aid of lawyers or the courts. Proving that etiquette-society's common language of behavior--is not for sissies, she examines political correctness, multiculturalism, sexual harassment, educational failure, freedom of speech, and the many other dilemmas that grow ever more acute without the intervention of a few basic rules to protect the combatants.
        
Whether on the job, in the streets, in schools, or in Congress; whether shopping, dining, attending a concert, or commuting to the office, Miss Manners: A Citizen's Guide to Civility is the practical, no-nonsense primer that is required reading for everyone unhappy with the current state of etiquette but at a loss for a way to restore it to its rightful place in the daily life of an irritable nation.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Miss Manners "finds herself drawn into the role of defining, rather than reporting on, the fast-changing standards of etiquette. . . . Behind the mask of Miss Manners lurks a subtle parodist named Judith Martin, and deep inside Judith Martin beats the heart of an authentic visionary who is enraptured by the prospect of a world characterized by social equality and social justice. . . . She is passionately interested in the weightiest and most urgent issues in our troubled world--class hatred, senseless acts of violence, the struggle for social justice, the search for enlightenment and fulfillment."         
--Los Angeles Times

"One of the freshest, funniest and most instructive guides to (civilized) behavior to come down the pike in years. . . . (Miss Manners) turns to such timely subjects as 'the I-gotta-be-me' mentality, out-of-control children, rude relatives, 'gentlemanly behavior,' 'on the spot corrections,' breaking dates, and, yes, the positioning of all manner of forks!"         
--San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Judith Martin is the author of many books, including Miss Manners® on Weddings. She and her husband live in Washington D.C.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Rev Upd Su edition (May 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609801589
• ISBN-13: 978-0609801581
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #975,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please read this. Please., December 21, 1999

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miss Manners: A Citizen's Guide to Civility (Paperback)

This volume, a revised and updated paperback edition of _Miss Manners Saves Civilization_, is not just a handy reference manual on questions of etiquette but a sustained discourse on the _importance_ of etiquette to civilization itself.

It is not an accident that the words "civility" and "politeness" derive respectively from the Latin and Greek words for "city." Wherever people live together, there is a need for a basic level of mutual respect to grease the wheels of our interaction and to remind us to keep our impulses under control for the sake of our common good.

Thus treating one another with respect, says Miss Manners (Judith Martin), is the heart of _manners_, and the conventions by which we do so are the rules of _etiquette_. Manners have therefore traditionally been accorded a place alongside morals, and etiquette alongside ethics.

Etiquette has no coercive "enforcement mechanism" but depends solely on (private and public) shows of disapproval: a raised eyebrow, a sharp word, even boycotts, shunning, and ostracism. When it falls into disrepute and bad manners run rampant, there is a grave danger that mutual respect will be enforced more coercively and less flexibly -- by law.

Miss Manners deplores this prospect; good manners are too context-dependent for the law to manage them properly, and at any rate jail time seems a harsh punishment for at least some of the milder breaches of etiquette. Thus her task: to restore good manners to their proper place in society and make etiquette the _first_ line of defense against incivility. (Libertarians should be cheering.)

And for those who think etiquette mainly concerns which fork to use, Miss Manners settles _that_ question very early on: there will never be more than three forks on the table at any time (any others will be brought with the courses for which they are required); you should always use the one furthest to the left; hold it as you would a pencil.

There, that was easy, wasn't it? Now you can read the book for its real content :-).

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is not a new book, January 23, 2001

By 

Jennifer MacLean (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miss Manners: A Citizen's Guide to Civility (Paperback)

I was terribly excited to see a new title, and asked for it for Christmas, so I was dismayed to discover that it is a revised edition of "Miss Manners Rescues Civilization". If you want Miss Manners at her best, buy Miss Manner's Guide to Extruciatingly Correct Beahvior" instead.