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44th out of 44 books
—
40 voters
Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
by
Laura Claridge (Goodreads Author)
“What would Emily Post do?” Even today, Americans cite the author of the perennial bestseller Etiquette as a touchstone for proper behavior. But who was the woman behind the myth, the authority on good manners who has outlasted all comers? Award-winning author Laura Claridge presents the first authoritative biography of the unforgettable woman who changed the mindset of mi...more
Hardcover, 592 pages
Published
October 14th 2008
by Random House
(first published 2008)
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This is an engaging portrait of Emily Post. Her life spanned the post-Civil War era to the Kennedy administration, and reflects many of the societal changes that took place in that era. I had no idea she was a novelist *and* amateur architect. (I will have to look for her novels.) The best sections are the first half (her childhood and youth) and the ones detailing her work on _Etiquette_; otherwise the book does tend (as biographies so often do) to get a little bogged down in superfluous detail...more
I haven't updated in a while, part of the reason is because I have been studying for my licensing exams and moving and so forth, but I finally took a break and read this biography of Emily Post, which I had been anticipating reading for quite some time.
Emily Post has always been a name synonymous with manners and etiquette, but Claridge, the authoress, delves deep into Post's life and brings forth to the reader a new dimension to a seemingly pigeonholed woman. Post's achievements as a fiction au...more
Emily Post has always been a name synonymous with manners and etiquette, but Claridge, the authoress, delves deep into Post's life and brings forth to the reader a new dimension to a seemingly pigeonholed woman. Post's achievements as a fiction au...more
I picked up this book solely due to my mother's ongoing complaints about her own mother's obsession on Emily Post's etiquette. Growing up, my mother received gentle reprimands on the proper Post way to spoon up soup or how it was more proper to say "glasses" rather than "cups." Needless to say, my mother scowled at me when I told her I was reading a bio on Emily Post.
This ended up being a decent enough biography though more than one sentence had a strange turn and more then a few sentences didn...more
This ended up being a decent enough biography though more than one sentence had a strange turn and more then a few sentences didn...more
It took me a long time to make my way through this book, but I found it really interesting. It's cool how Emily Post basically "happened upon" writing about etiquette. It's at least halfway through the book (and probably more) before you get to that point, though.
Like all good stories about southerners, the book starts with Emily's family. It talks about her grandparents and spends a LOT of time on her parents.
I'm not sure the biographer really liked Emily. She seemed to think Emily didn't do en...more
Like all good stories about southerners, the book starts with Emily's family. It talks about her grandparents and spends a LOT of time on her parents.
I'm not sure the biographer really liked Emily. She seemed to think Emily didn't do en...more
Despite her limited access to Emily Post
The first chapter is a grabber -- sex, blackmail, headlines -- but then reverts to the standard grandparents-to-grave biography format. She lived in interesting times, but Emily herself was only a mildly interesting person (at least to me after reading this book). She fancied herself a novelist and her etiquette book was never her dream job but a topic suggested by her publisher. She became famous for it mostly because the distinctive blue cover bore only the title "Etiquette" and "Emily Post" b...more
While the idea of etiquette is quaint for many today, little about the way Emily Post advised her readers was. Emily was the child of progressive, educated parents who supported her curiosity about the world. Her marriage ended in scandal and divorce, but from that, Emily supported herself as a working woman; first, as a writer of fiction, and later, as the arbiter of manners. As a divorced woman from one of New York's good families, Emily knew better than most how social mores change over time...more
I am glad I read this book, in that I learned something about how womens' roles changed as America progressed from the Gilded Age to Post WWII. It also prompted me to reexamine principles of ettique and my own practice of good manners. The book was, though, a bit tedious and muddled, somehow. The author did not consistently employ a smooth, flowing narrative. I don't know, maybe that is hard to accompoish when doing a biography of this sort. I would recommend the book, but warn that you might fi...more
While Emily Post herself is fascinating, I think this book mostly dives into the most mundane of facts concerning her - where she went on such and such a day, what she was doing when such and such an event took place. I was looking for a more personal look at her, and for someone to sum up and make sense of her life on a higher level (rather than just recounting minutiae). Instead, there are long-winded passages full of conjecture, like "The low rumble of the tires against the gravel, lulling th...more
Emily Post Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of Manners came into my life on a whim. I clearly judged the book by the cover. I wasn’t particularly interested in Emily Post. Sure, I knew about the little Blue Book that had influence many generations in America. But I hadn’t given the author much thought, in spite of her name being, 50 years after her death, a household name. What drew me to the book was the cover. I absolutely loved the dress.
The photo is of Emily Price wearing the most gorge...more
The photo is of Emily Price wearing the most gorge...more
I have had to struggle with this book. it is rather boring to me. i am a retired Reading teacher, and I always told my children not to ever give up on a book because you never know what id on the next page!! So, am following my own advice. I was raised in the South where manners are extremely important. I had to walk with Emily Post's book balanced on my head to improve my posture!! We had to memorize her from front to back. but this book doesn't give her justice or she just lived a dull life.
I remember Emily Post's Etiquette being listed among the essentials of a basic reference collection during a course I took back in my library school days. As a young 20-something, I remember wondering if Emily Post was even a real person. I also remember thinking I would probably never have to consult this book out in the "real world."
And, admittedly, I haven't really used it to answer questions on the reference desk. Turns out today's 20-somethings aren't all that interested in etiquette, eithe...more
And, admittedly, I haven't really used it to answer questions on the reference desk. Turns out today's 20-somethings aren't all that interested in etiquette, eithe...more
This book was an eerily good fit for a personal study of biographies I'm doing, so I was thrilled to get a copy through the Early Reviewers program. I found it to be an engaging, well-written study that strikes a good balance between specific detail about its subject, and contextual detail about the social and national milieu in which she moved. I also found the subject, Emily Post, to be a surprisingly sympathetic character - not that I expected to dislike her, but I was impressed at the degree...more
What an amazing woman so far ahead of her times! Not content to spend her life following her husband's endless sailing or following her friends in their pursuit of the gilded life in the Gilded Age. She blazed the trail that her father introduced her to as an independent woman who loved being in charge. You will be amazed at what she accomplished besides writing her famous Etiquette book that was at one point the most referenced book in the world. A well researched, excellent "read" of the early...more
I wish so much more for this book then is there. There are so many minute details that do nothing to add to the reading experience that I find it a wonder that it was not edited out. I find that particularly the first 100 pages or so of her family's background to be tedious. I am disappointed as this is precisely the sort of book I enjoy read and etiquette is my personal favorite subject with biographies. I just feel so much more could be relayed if it were a narrower focus.
The book was intersting, it went on a little longer than it should. Learn all kinds of interesting things, facts and details of the world Emily Post lived it. It was a story told style history lesson. After finishing the book, I went on the Google and looked up many topics and places discussed. It certainly gave a different view of EM than I had ever considered. Listened to it on tape, they was much detail and might have made reading tedious. Recommend the book (CD) highly.
Jan 04, 2010
Karen Powell
added it
Highly detailed, this extensive biography demands a lot of attention. It seems no stone, family member, or acquaintance is left unturned. A few times it became too much and I put it aside for other readings. However, Post enthusiasts will find this book well-researched and highly imaginative enough to catapult them into their heroine's society.
I really enjoyed this book - I learned so much about Emily Post and the environment in which she grew up. All of it was interesting, but in particular the chapters on her writing the etiquette manuals and how they changed over time. I think the current volumes really lost her special twist (her writing was hilarious and accessible).
Easily the best thing I read in 2008. Normally I dislike works this long (500+ pages), but who knew this one woman's life contained so much history? Her father was a famous architect (worked on the base of the Statue of Liberty), her family friends founded Tuxedo Park--for those who like New York history, this is wonderful.
The backdrop of Emily Post's life was an interesting way to learn about early 20th-century America. It was as much a history book as a biography. It got a little dry in parts, but was still well worth my time. As a sidelight, I discovered that Emily and I are both descendants of Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden. Small world.
I wish there was a 2.5 star rating. Part of the fault lies with me. I always get suckered in by biographies, but I don't like them all that much. This book starts with a detailed examination of Emily Post's parents life, her husband's life, and the age in which she grew up. When I was reading that, I couldn't wait to get to the point at which she wrote Etiquette . When I finally got to that point, the book became more of a list of accomplishments. The narrative also was confusing at times, one...more
A really well-written, well-researched biography. I appreciated Claridge's efforts to show the complexity of Post's philosophy of etiquette and the author's highlighting of the media coverage and treatment of Post and her work as having often missed the point or simplified what her book and its many editions were trying to do. Claridge argues that Post was careful to update her book over the years (1922 to late 1950s) to reflect the changing mores and her own growing awareness of things like eco...more
Apr 28, 2009
Judy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in American history
Recommended to Judy by:
bookclub
Had mixed feelings about this biography at first - it didn't seem to be about Emily herself - but then I realized all the "history" of the people and the age is what made her what she was. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a great deal of American history and the society of all walks of life. She was quite an open-minded woman who learned as she aged and grew with it. I didn't realize what a celebrity she was for all of her long life and the influence she had on all of us. Well worth reading.
At first I had trouble getting used to the author's style of sentence structure. But once I got past trying to find the subject and verb, it was fine. Emily Post was "to the manor born" but was a very nice lady and tried to keep her books relevent through 4 decades.
Feb 13, 2010
Ryan
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
new-york,
books-i-just-could-not-finish
So I think there's a reason that I was never remotely interested in Emily Post's Rules of Etiquette. I only picked this up because the intro regarding her public humiliation over her husband affairs was so interesting, but it's not worth slugging through 400+ pages of prissy, daddy-obsessed Emily to get there. I just kept falling asleep too much while reading.
Jul 25, 2009
Austensibly
added it
Interesting biography of a woman who witnessed great changes in American society and manners and wisely chronicled them. I do think the author would like to ascribe more aspects of feminism to Post than she probably possessed, but it is still a very entertaining read.
A fascinating, amazingly well-researched social history of a woman's life spanning a time of massive cultural change. Emily Post was not at all prim + prissy. She survived divorce (1906) by launching herself first as a novelist and then a global etiquette brand.
Emily Post was born in 1871 and did not die until 1960! Needless to say, she was witness to quite a lot. It's an interesting book that's more a portrait of the age and society in which she lived than the woman herself. She rubbed some impressive shoulders and the book is impeccably researched. Read it as a chunk of American history.
May 05, 2013
Diann Blakely
added it
For Emily Post, the best revenge may not have been writing well, but writing profitably. Humiliated by a scandal involving her husband, Post abandoned a none-too-successful career in writing fiction for penning advice columns on etiquette, a project that grew into a book that . . . grew. And sold. And sold. As the years went by, and times changed, Post democratized *Etiquette* to make room for butler-, valet-, footman- and maid-less households where wives entertained, cooked and served guests th...more
This is actually one of the first full biographies I have read, and I found it very interesting. This is one of my favorite time periods to study, and the author did a great job of providing historical background.
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Since the early 1990s, Laura Claridge has authored several books, ranging from feminist theory to biography and popular culture of the 20th Century. Formerly an English professor, she has written Norman Rockwell: A Life (Random House/Modern Library 2001/2003) and Tamara de Lempicka: A Life of Deco and Decadence (Bloomsbury 2001/2003 [paperback] and Clarkson Potter/Crown/Random House 1999). Her bi...more
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08. Mai, 19:16 Uhr