Ocean State Libraries

"The Elements of Style has been restored to the world of letters because of its tested usefulness in helping people to write effectively and well. Mr. White has judiciously revised the book and has contributed a final chapter that seeks to lead the reader beyond mere correctness toward distinction in English style. This part of the book is concerned with attitudes in writing, with Mr. White's personal list of "do's" and "don'ts" and with style as...

Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose. In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers-Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov-and discovers why their 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...

"Satirist Al Franken examines the political right, and uses their own words against them, taking on the pundits, the politicians, and the issues." --

Harry Evans has edited everything from the urgent files of battlefield reporters to the complex thought processes of Henry Kissinger. He's even been knighted for his services to journalism. In DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?, he brings his indispensable insight to us all in his definite guide to writing well. The right words are oxygen to our ideas, but the digital era, with all of its TTYL, LMK, and WTF, has been cutting off that oxygen flow. The compulsion...

Kress shows you effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story-- essential lessons for strong start-to-finish storytelling.

Online sensation Grammar Girl makes grammar fun and easy in this New York Times bestseller Are you stumped by split infinitives? Terrified of using "who" when a "whom" is called for? Do you avoid the words "affect" and "effect" altogether? Grammar Girl is here to help! Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar-but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created...

Communications expert Luntz offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the tactical use of words and phrases affects what we buy, who we vote for, and even what we believe in. Luntz has used his knowledge of words to help more than two dozen Fortune 500 companies grow. He tells us why Rupert Murdoch's six-billion-dollar decision to buy DirectTV was smart because "satellite" was more cutting edge than "digital cable," and why pharmaceutical companies transitioned...