The New Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times -- Revised Edition

A newly revised modern manual of manners and etiquette that has become an African American classic.

Unlike the more traditional etiquette books that many African Americans may find stodgy, off-putting, and culturally alien, The New Basic Black is for real people who live real lives—and it addresses many of the issues of a growing black middle class. Straightforward, user-friendly, and illustrated with line drawings, The New Basic Black includes all the information any well-mannered person would want to know about the social rites of passage (marriage, birth, christening, death), the corporate workplace (standard work issues and the more delicate issue of race and its impact on a work environment), various occasions (having guests or being a guest at a summer home, etc.), and everyday rules and rituals that make living in hectic times a little easier. The revised edition of The New Basic Black also contains the intricacies of Internet etiquette, tips for travel in the post-9/11 age, and a wealth of other invaluable information that will make life more comfortable.

For singles and families alike, The New Basic Black takes the mystery out of conventional etiquette and will arm the reader with confidence in any situation.

Karen Grigsby Bates is a correspondent for NPR’s national news magazine Day to Day. For several years, she wrote for Time magazine and was a contributing columnist to the Los Angeles Times Op Ed page. Bates is the author of Plain Brown Wrapper and Chosen People, suspense novels featuring reporter-sleuth Alex Powell. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.

Karen Elyse Hudson writes an advice column titled “Talk to Me” for the Wave Newspapers Group and is the author of a biography of her maternal grandfather, Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style, and a biography for young people, The Will and the Way: Paul R. Williams, Architect. She speaks extensively on etiquette, party planning, and architecture.