Previously Published Review: Would It Kill You To Stop Doing That, Henry Alford

First off, the main downside to this book: Not enough time spent with my own two preferred manners mavens, Tim Gunn and Miss Manners. I found the sections spent interviewing them to be quite fun, but sadly short - similar to attending a dinner advertising a "sumptuous mousse dessert" and then you get your serving: a tiny teaspoon. Tastes good, but you were expecting a good bit more of it.

As to the book itself - short, sharp-tongued, and occasionally scathing. There is some language towards the end (he is a NYC greeter, and likes to shock his overseas visitors by taking them by the booth selling "effing" shirts.) There is also a bit of a better than thou tone throughout, but strangely enough, it humanizes rather than irritates. The section on his "retaliatory manners" especially hit me square in my own often passive-aggressive tendencies, and made like him all the more because of our shared failings.

Overall, nothing earth-shattering, and most certainly not exhaustive or even complete, but a very enjoyable short and sassy addition to the voices of those calling out for a continuation and furtherance of modern manners.