author
Mary Greer Conklin
1870–1943
A practical early-20th-century writer on social grace, she is best known for turning the art of conversation into something teachable, lively, and useful. Her work still feels approachable because it treats good talk as a skill anyone can practice.
1 Audiobook
Conversation : What to say and how to say it
by Mary Greer Conklin
About the author
Born in 1870 and died in 1943, Mary Greer Conklin is chiefly remembered for Conversation: What to Say and How to Say It, published by Funk & Wagnalls in 1912. The book was widely preserved and later digitized, which has helped keep her name alive for modern readers interested in etiquette, public speaking, and everyday social confidence.
In that book, she writes in a practical, encouraging way rather than a stiff or overly formal one. She frames conversation as an art shaped by attention, tact, and genuine interest in other people, making her advice feel less like a list of rules and more like a guide to being a thoughtful companion.
Little biographical detail was easy to confirm from reliable online sources beyond her dates and authorship, so her published work remains the clearest window into her life and voice. For listeners today, that voice offers a glimpse of how people in the early 1900s thought about manners, friendship, and the pleasures of good conversation.