Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies

'This book deals with a form of public discourse that also occurs in everyday interaction: image restoration. When one encounters certain messages (criticism, complaints, accusations, blame, censure, condemnation, rebukes, reproaches, objections) or is suspected of wrongdoing, failed obligations, mistakes, or embarrassments, one needs to know how to respond, both mentally and behaviorally. The author is very thorough in his list of situations that lead to image restoration and his list of responses is the most extensive I've seen. We all know bits and pieces about image restoration, but Benoit pulls it all together in a comprehensive work on the subject.'--Dudley D. Cahn, State University of New York at New Paltz