When it comes to manners in the city, "Urban Etiquette" is the ultimate guide for getting along. Where many cultures converge, respect can succeed where other communication fails. In fact, knowing the right thing to do can bring contentment, love, happiness, and even financial rewards. Meet the personification of modern etiquette: Mr. Social Grace -- weekly advice columnist in print, online, and on the radio -- as he reveals the basics of good manners for everyday urban life. Social Grace isn't here to beat you about the head and neck with self-righteous disapproval. Instead, he offers a new interpretation of good manners and explains how they can serve as a powerful tool to help twenty-first century people get along better. Presented in answers to real-life quandaries is Social Grace's philosophy of etiquette. It's not about snobbish correctness; rather, it's about courtesy and common sense. With the help of this fun and lively little book, you'll be able to mo! ve confidently through any situation. You'll even be able to deal effectively with the rudeness of others, and, where kindness fails in the face of boorish behavior, to wield the powerful weapon of "applied rudeness" yourself. With gentle humor and encouragement, Social Grace promotes etiquette's critical role in a multicultural, democratic society.
Etiquette expert and writer Charles Purdy, a.k.a. Social Grace, lives and works in San Francisco, California. His first advice column appeared in the Bay Area's "SF Weekly" newspaper from 2000 through 2005; a second currently appears on Planet Out's Web sites. He is the resident etiquette expert of KRON TV's "Weekend Morning News" program and a regular guest of KFOG Radio's "Morning Show," where he answers called-in questions about living well and behaving courteously.
Charles has appeared on numerous television programs, including "Good Morning Canada," "Mr. Romance," and "Life & Style"; his advice has appeared in the "Wall Street Journal," "Real Simple" magazine, and many other publications; and he has conducted seminars on topics from table manners to business etiquette, for third-graders, finance professionals, and many other groups.
"I have great faith in the power of good manners, and in my heart I believe that most people want to act correctly; they just weren't taught how to do so. And before they have an understanding of the underlying principles of good manners, they reject these principles on the grounds that they are arbitrary rules or simply tools that snobs use to keep "lower classes in their place." But the fundamental basis of proper behavior has always been kindness and consideration for others. Etiquette in its true sense gives us an agreed-upon way to communicate respect for other people and for our communities. Additionally, social rules have roots in the past, and modified as they may be in modern times, they connect us with history and weave us more firmly into the fabric of society."
