Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition [Hardcover]

"Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition" is not your grandmother's guide to manners. The most respected authority on all things proper since 1922, "Emily Post's Etiquette" has been completely rewritten by Peggy Post, Emily Post's great-granddaughter-in-law, to help you conduct yourself with courtesy appropriate for today's contemporary living.

In "Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition," Post offers advice for handling modern situations such as online dating,"blended" families and breastfeeding or pumping at the office. Guidelines are given for using high-tech devices like cell phones, e-mail, and instant messaging. There is even a discussion on the inappropriateness of displaying body piercings at a job interview.

Fortunately, when updating the book to address modern advances and changes, Post did not disregard the situations and concerns that have remained important through the years. "Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition" is packed with timeless advice on matters such as table manners, introductions, displaying the flag and responding to invitations. Entertaining, planning and attending weddings and communication are covered in detail. Most people will find the guidelines in the chapter titled "The Finer Points of Tipping" very useful. There's even a section on Official Protocol, so you'll know how to behave if you are ever invited to the White House.

"Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition" is well-written and well-organized. That is of key importance considering this book is 896 pages long. Post's style is easy and conversational, keeping you from feeling like you're getting bogged down and welcoming you to continue reading. If you have a specific etiquette question, you will be able to find the answer quickly and easily due to the attention paid to the book's structure. The table of contents and index are intuitive. The chapters are broken up and easy to navigate through the effective use of headings and subheadings. Indexed tabs are even thoughtfully included.

Peggy Post has done an excellent job with "Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition." She has provided a guide that allows for the more casual nature of modern society while honoring the simple courtesy and civility that will never be out of style.

This book is an essential read for almost everyone, period. If you go outside your house, open your curtains, answer your phone, or even reply to your mail, electronic or otherwise, this book is for you. If you want a primer on manners because you feel like you're not "doing the right thing" in a social situation, this book is for you. The only reason you shouldn't have this book is if you have so little contact with other people that you would not even be on the internet reading this review in the first place.

When most people imagine what's inside a book like this, they see detailed instructions on how many inches the dinner fork must be from the salad fork, how many seconds one is required to wait before answering the phone, and how many inches of shoelace should hang off the side of one's sneakers. "Emily Post's Etiquette" is nothing like that. She emphasizes that changing times have put the heart of good manners where they belong: In the spirit of courtesy and respect for others.

What you should get from this book by reading it is the confidence to deal with life's difficult situations, and the grace to be polite even when others are not. What everyone else should get from this book is a little bit better world, where at least one more person can lead with a good example.

These potential benefits alone are enough to merit my recommendation. I encourage you to pick up a copy and find out for yourself just how much you can get from it.

Emily Post is arguably the most famous American writer on the subject of etiquette. I have heard about this book a few times but it was written so long ago that I thought it to be obsolete and never purchased it. Recently, my grandmother passed away and I stumbled upon the 1957 edition of Etiquette while searching through her books. I must say that I was dead wrong about the book being out of date. There are some traditions that have since died out, like what to do with hats, but only because the fashion has changed. The rest of the book is still very practical. In the preface to this book Emily Post says, "Graciousness and courtesy are never old-fashioned, though their expression does change."

The importance of learning etiquette can be summed up in one quote from the first page of the book: "no one--unless he be a hermit--can fail to gain from a proper, courteous, likable approach, or fail to be handicapped by an improper, offensive, resentful one."

While most people think of etiquette in relation to table setting and dinners, it is much more than that. This book guides the reader through everyday good manners and civility.