Helen Plum Library

Written sometime in the 4th Century BC, Aristotle's "Rhetoric" is the definitive treatise on the art of persuasive public speaking. The art of oratorical persuasion was an essential skill for the successful politician during the days of ancient Greece and Aristotle's "Rhetoric" is considered one of the greatest works from antiquity on the subject. Like many of the surviving works attributable to Aristotle, "Rhetoric" was not intended for public dissemination,...

"In this ... engaging guide, [the author] offers insight and outlines the crucial keys you need to win any debate, anywhere, anytime-- drawn from landmark legal cases, politics, his own career, and even popular film and television. [It is] a celebration of clashing minds and viewpoints..."--Amazon.com

Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. The time-tested secrets the book discloses include Cicero's three-step strategy for moving an audience to action--as well as Honest Abe's Shameless Trick of lowering an audience's expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it's also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians' use of "code" language...

America's most influential writing teacher offers an engaging and practical guide to effective short-form writing. In HOW TO WRITE SHORT, Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed-from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short-form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write...

"Writing is a craft you can learn," says Roy Peter Clark. "You need tools, not rules." In this essential guide, Clark distills decades of experience into fifty tools that writers of all kinds can use every day.You may be crafting a newspaper story or an admissions essay for college. You may be writing a technical report or drafting your first novel. You may be a student or a teacher, a poet or a critic, a columnist or a blogger. You may be preparing

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Provides clear and practical guidance for what to say--and what not to say--in any situation. Covering everything from business correspondence to personal letters, this new edition features expanded advice for personal and business emails, blogs, and international communication

The original edition of the most trusted writer's guide to American English, this is the book that generations of writers have relied upon for timeless advice on grammar, diction, syntax, sentence construction, and other writing essentials. In brief and concise terms, author William Strunk, Jr., identifies the principal requirements of proper American English style and concentrates on the most often violated rules of composition. Originally published...

"Draft No. 4 is a master class on the writer's craft. In a series of playful, expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his career and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most esteemed writers of recent decades. McPhee offers definitive guidance in the decisions regarding arrangement, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces, and he presents extracts from his work,...

"MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan isn't one to avoid arguments. He relishes them, as the lifeblood of democracy and the only surefire way to establish the truth. Arguments help us solve problems, uncover new ideas we might not have considered, and nudge our disagreements toward mutual understanding. A good argument, made in good faith, has intrinsic value--and can also simply be fun. Arguments are everywhere--and especially given the fierce debates we're all embroiled...

For beginners to advanced students, this warm and witty guide to writing includes a writing style chapter and a guide to writing everything from school papers to letters to e-mails