Winning Arguments
What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom
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- 9,99 €
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- 9,99 €
Publisher Description
“Fish mines cultural touchstones from Milton to ‘Married with Children’ to explain how various types of arguments are structured and how that understanding can lead to victory” — New York Times Book Review A lively and accessible guide to understanding rhetoric by the world class English and Law professor and bestselling author of How to Write a Sentence.
Filled with the wit and observational prowess that shaped Stanley Fish’s acclaimed bestseller How to Write a Sentence, Winning Arguments guides readers through the “greatest hits” of rhetoric. In this clever and engaging guide, Fish 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. A celebration of clashing minds and viewpoints, Winning Arguments is sure to become a classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Legal scholar Fish (Versions of Academic Freedom) provides a practical, thought-provoking guide to improving argument skills. By dividing the book into four mini-guides on politics, domestic matters, law, and academe, Fish ensures that it offers something for everyone. He begins with an illuminating philosophical treatise on the nature of argument, showing how embedded it is in human nature. Fish uses several object lessons, including the characters of Satan in Paradise Lost and Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men, to illustrate the subtlety and complexity involved in successful persuasion. Throughout, he shows how arguments operate according to different rules in different contexts. What is valued in the academy is not necessarily valued in the courtroom or the bedroom. At home, he claims, arguments are first and foremost "performances of personality creation." The variety of references, such as in a comparison of Donald Trump to Michel de Montaigne, is just one aspect of Fish's stellar knack for crafting his own persuasive style. An important book for any lawyer, scholar, or pundit not to mention any spouse who has tried to walk back fractious words Fish's shrewd work can help everyone better understand the power of effective communication in everyday life.