You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama [Hardcover]

Some say we live in the age of communication so it seems odd that the study of rhetoric seems antiquated and neglected - part of an irrelevant classical tradition.

In a introduction which starts with a funny and apposite scene from The Simpsons, Sam Leith says 'So although rhetoric is all around us, we don't see it. Indeed it's precisely because it's all around us that we don't see it. Explaining rhetoric to a human being is, or should be, like explaining water to a fish.' He goes on to say 'We use language to cajole and seduce, to impress and inspire, to endear and to justify. Language happens because human beings are desiring machines; and what knits desire and language is rhetoric.' At that point I was sold - my interest was piqued. What kept me reading was his clear style and wonderful examples from Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost to The Simpsons, from Churchill to Obama.

The book is structured according to the Five Parts of rhetoric
1) Invention
Ethos, pathos and logos

2) Arrangement
For example narration, proof and refutation

3) Style
For example, decorum and jokes

4) Memory
some top tips on using a memory house

5) Delivery

and then he explores the three branches of rhetoric:
Deliberative Rhetoric
Judicial Rhetoric and
Epideicitic Rhetoric

Don't be put off by the classical terms. If you have an important presentation or speech to give then this book will be very useful, but it's also something that can be dipped in to with pleasure and will reward and enrich the everyday communications.

Sam Leith has pulled off that very difficult balancing act with his book which is entertaining and inspiring as well as informative and educational. It is a master class in rhetoric.

This is a fabulous book. Fab-u-lous.
Why's that? Because reading it makes you feel intelligent.
A real expert can explain comlicated things so that people new to the subject can understand them too. That's what this book does.
Rhetoric. I didn't really know what that was, but I thought perhaps it was boring. It turns out that it's fascinating, or it is when Sam Leith writes about it.

I spend a lot of my working life trying to convince business people that they don't have to use words like contextualisation or phrases like integrated stratigic teaming to make themselves look clever. Aiming to show that if they can explain something complicated so people can understand it, they'll get better results. I'm going to take this book with me to all my workshops from now on. I used to take a geology book called Understanding Earth for the same reason, but this one's smaller.

Sam Leith has made me smarter. I didn't learn Latin at school, but that's OK because Sam explains it for you.
But as well as using Aristotle and Obama, he quotes South Park, Kurt Cobain and Billy Connelly.
And it tells me that I could probably have rearranged this review to have a stronger impact. Buy it anyway. Even if you don't intend to write a speech or make a speech. Even if you never write anything.

Read this because it makes you a more intelligent listener.

You talkin' to me?

Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama

By Sam Leith

Churchill was brilliant at it, so was Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin spat out orders with a pipe clenched between his teeth. They were all leaders who influenced millions with words. They had one thing in common; they used rhetoric to devastating effect. they stated proclamations that stiffened the sinews and heated the blood. Churchill's "blood, sweat and tears" put new heart into millions of Britons facing the Nazi jackboot.
Adolf demanded patriotism with his "One folk, one Reich" call in Nuremberg and Stalin appealing to patriotism in broadcasts to fight for the Motherland.
It was all rhetoric, the art of persuading people and in You talkin' to me? Journalist Sam Leith hits an unlikely lodestone of great quality and much humour He has written a quite delightful book that was loved by members of The Cote d'Azur Men's Book Group
.He points out that rhetoric is not academic discipline or the preserve of professional orators, we all use it every day and it facilitates communication and better understanding between people. It equips you to deal with the double glazing salesman, your plea to a waitress for a table under the window and he says it is central to the way we all interact.
We use the form of words that are easily understandable and do not demand an answer. Every profession has its style of rhetoric, from the judge on the bench to the policeman who stopped your car or the warden who gave you a parking ticket.
The voices of the ancient Greeks, Demosthenes, Aristotle, echo through the pages, so do the voices of the Cicero, Caesar, Brutus, Mark Anthony, King Henry until year by year, century by century we listen to Kennedy, Martin Luther King and thence to President Obama.
Rhetoric is not merely said, it is orated delivered and narrated in the most powerful of emotions. Spoken largely by man - with a nod of recognition to the Boadicea's and Thatchers - it is the glue that holds nations together.
Back to Churchill and Hitler. When Winnie said" words are the only thing that last forever", Hitler would have agreed. Adolf was awkward in company but hypnotic in public.
In a speech just before the U.S, presidential election four years ago, Barak Obama confidently said, "Yes, we can". Rhetoric in action, simple, powerful and remembered to this day as his slogan and promise to the people.
Buy this book! Study this book!. Use this book, getting it online or from your favorite store.Please do beg , borrow or ask for it as a present, it is that good.A great choice, to succeed! (And that's a rhetorical rising tricolon!)
End