In her bestseller, How to Say It (over 1 million copies sold), Rosalie Maggio took readers through the rudiments of effective letterwriting. Now the acclaimed author lets 500 remarkable missives speak for themselves. Pithy, charming, and humorous letters penned by historical, political, and literary figures illustrate that the ultimate hallmarks of any good letter are clarity, sincerity, and personality. Arranged in 29 categories, letters cover every situation, including thanks, apologies, congratulations, complaints, invitations, love letters, get-well wishes, refusals, employment issues, and money problems. Readers will revel in Napoleon's letter of complaint about the ugly porcelain dinner service he ordered as a gift for his wife; Lillian Carter's homesick letter from the Peace Corps ("I have had four days of complete inertia caused by homesickness and no mail ...nobody loves me, I am forgotten, I hate Mabel's guts, they push me too hard here, no clothes, no food, no nothing, I wish I were dead!"); P.T. Barnum's inquiry about obtaining a mummy for his circus; Paul Laurence Dunbar's love letter to his future wife; Groucho Marx's light-hearted get-well note to T.S.
Eliot; Jenny Lind's sympathetic letter to Clara Schumann after her jewels were stolen; and E.B. White's classically concise letter of refusal: "Thanks for your letter inviting me to join the committee of the Arts and Sciences for Eisenhower. I must decline, for secret reasons." HOW THEY SAID IT provides hours of reading pleasure--as well as the best "model letters"--a bountiful assemblage of some of the most entertaining and memorable letters ever written.
- ISBN10 0735201323
- ISBN13 9780735201323
- Publish Date 21 December 1999
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 October 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Prentice Hall
- Format Paperback
- Pages 256
- Language English