When it was first published, The Elements of Style was favorably reviewed in newspapers nationwide. P. F. Baum's 1960 review in the Los Angeles Times Book Review is representative. Baum writes:

The world would be a better place if everybody read The Elements of Style; if it were read not just by writers and journalists but by all who write legal briefs, job applications, love letters, or notes to the teacher; read even by those who never write anything.

Baum praises the manual as "a monument to clear thinking cleanly voiced."

Edward C. Sampson, in his article on White for the Twayne's United States Authors Series, calls Strunk's original work "a short, precise guide to writing, free of jargon and written with a respect for the reader's intelligence and needs." Discussing White's chapter on style, Sampson writes, "Many of his examples . . . are felicitous, and he generally manages...