Political Writing: A Guide to the Essentials PDF
Preview Political Writing: A Guide to the Essentials
* * * Writing well, and persuasively, is a discipline that can be learned. This book introduces the essential skills, rules, and steps for producing effective political prose—from the edito- rial, the op-ed, and the polemical essay to other forms both weighty and seemingly slight. Drafting commission reports, policy memoranda, and press releases requires skill. Writing speeches or ghosting essays for a principal calls upon special sensitivities. Blogging is best done with discipline. There are rules for ceremonial remarks, letters, and toasts. Author Adam Garfinkle, founding editor of The American Interest, has long experience as a successful political word- smith in many venues. He developed a course in political writing for interns working in government and think tank offices in Washington, DC. This book makes that course, along with a sprinkling of the author’s trademark wit and wisdom, widely available. * * * This page intentionally left blank P OLITICAL W RITING A Guide to the Essentials Adam Garfinkle With a foreword by David Brooks Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2012 by M.E. Sharpe Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2012 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher s. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwi se, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ide as contained in the material herein . Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience a nd knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they shou ld be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibilit y. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, an d are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infring e. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Garfinkle, Adam M., 1951– Political writing : a guide to the essentials / by Adam Garfinkle. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-7656-3123-7 (hardcover : alk. paper); ISBN 978-0-7656-3124-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Rhetoric—Political aspects. 2. Speechwriting. 3. Government report writing. 4. Political letter writing. 5. Political science—Authorship. I. Title. P301.5.P67G37 2012 808.06’623—dc23 2011049952 ISBN 13: 9780765631244 (pbk) ISBN 13: 9780765631237 (hbk) This book is dedicated to Harvey Sicherman: friend, colleague, mentor, and man of style. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword ix Introduction: How This Book Came to Be xi 1. Fundamentals of Rhetoric and Polemic 3 2. Becoming a Better Writer 22 3. Writing Better Still 47 4. The Essay 68 5. The Review 87 6. The Op-Ed 100 7. Speechwriting 110 8. Letters, Toasts, and Ceremonials 123 9. Memoranda 141 10. Commission Reports 148 11. Blogs 160 12. A Philosophy of Editing 169 Some Parting Words 177 Index 179 About the Author 187 vii This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD I might as well tell you right now that this little book is going to shake your self-confidence. In these pages, Adam Garfinkle holds up a standard of excellence for how to think, argue, and be that very few of us can match. Again and again I found myself underlining passages and thinking to myself, “Yes, I really should do that.” This pertained to advice not only on how to present an argument and write a column, but on how to be a seri- ous person—how to put aside the trivialities and distractions of life—yes, I’m talking to you, Twitter—and build up knowledge and wisdom. He also reminds us why most educational systems in most ages put rhetoric at the very heart of schooling. We spend much of our lives trying to organize our views of reality and then trying to persuade other people to share them. It is very important to understand these crafts. Most of the emphasis these days is placed on the “persuading people” part of that activity, but here I want to dwell on the other part: “organizing our views of reality.” That is the most important part of the art of rhetoric. As Garfinkle notes in these pages, it actually is very rare that we can change somebody’s mind about an issue. What we are sometimes able to do, how- ever, is to get someone to see the world in a new way, and that new way of seeing necessarily leads them to new ways of acting. Let me tell you about something that happened to me as I was reading Garfinkle’s book. I was working on a column on fiscal policy and a debate between President Barack Obama and Republican Representative Paul Ryan about their competing views. I interviewed a few White House officials. I interviewed Ryan and a few congressional budget mavens. I printed out and read studies from the Congressional Budget Office, the Tax Policy Center, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and other wonk outfits. By the time I was done with my research, I had about 400 pages of notes and studies, and five entirely contradictory sets of data. My job as a columnist is to try to come up with one coherent narrative to help people understand all these claims and counterclaims. My job is to give my read- ers a frame through which to see this debate. The basic thesis I came up with is this: Ryan’s plan is seriously flawed, but it at least points us toward fiscal balance. Obama’s criticisms of it are valid, but his own plans don’t ix
The list of books you might like
