Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay [Paperback]

Gary Hoffman (Author), Glynis Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0937363154 | ISBN-13: 978-0937363157 | Publication Date: January 27, 1999 | Edition: 2nd

This is an innovative approach to writing style and form for professional writers, college students and professors, K-12 teachers, and self-taught writers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . irreverent, smart, and funny, Adios is a mosaic of brilliant techniques." -- Marilyn Kennedy, Journal of College Composition & Communication NCTE

"Adios is suitable to today's electronically-oriented, media-saturated learner. . . Just when the reader thinks the Hoffmans need a sound dose of Strunk & White for casting too far out of the mainstream, the Hoffmans not only explain clearly how to achieve that notion, they also justify it with a colorful tapestry of examples from high and low, literary and scientific. Readers will end each section renewed with an eager-to-try-it spirit." -- Donna Barnard, inside english, Journal of the English Council

"As I told my secretary, Adios is enough to make me want to return to the classroom and teach writing one more time." -- Margaret Gratton, President of Orange Coast College

"I loved it!. . . The Hoffmans are insane." -- amazon.com reader review, Portugal

"I started reading the chapter on style in the mail room and arrived five minutes late to class --Adios is great! I ordered it for all my freshman courses." -- Allison Lee, College Writing Center Director

"I've been a professional writer for twenty-five years. . . my writing style is too often the product of habit. Adios provides practical yet highly creative advice and counsel." -- Jim Carnett, Community Relations Director

"Now everywhere I see the techniques discussed in Adios. Adios has made me not only a better writer, but a better reader." -- Jennifer Hanna, UCLA Anthropology and Mythology student

"The Hoffman's answer the question 'How can we get this concept across without the eye-glazing terminology of rhetoric handbooks?' . . . a teacher may spend a lot of time mumbling, 'Why didn't I think of that?' Adios deserves a wide audience." -- Art Peterson, National Writing Project, University of California Berkeley

"We were thrilled with your [the authors'] witty acknowledgement and both enjoyed your 'recipes' for prose and grammar." -- Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken -- aka The Two Hot Tamales

From the Publisher

ADIOS, STRUNK AND WHITE is to the book trade business what an independent film is to the Hollywood industry—a creative, sensible approach to writing not hampered by the need to appeal to a wide audience planted with grammar nazis whose sensibilities might be offended, or an academic community’s hubris provoked by the book’s fearless approach to writing. In other words, this is a book that only a small, alternative press could publish, a book secretly praised by large publishing house editors who would have to pass by ADIOS to publish non-offensive, committee-voiced textbooks, reference trade books by establishment columnists, or feel-good, ego-salve books. ADIOS defies all these categories. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Verve Pr; 2nd edition (January 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937363154
• ISBN-13: 978-0937363157
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Adios, Adios. Gimme Strunk and White!, October 24, 2006

By 

Mr Hulot (Maine and China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay, Third Edition (Paperback)

This book is not awful. But it is not a replacement for Strunk and White's Elements of Style. Elements of Style has many advantages-- It's clear, it's short and the direction can steer no one wrong. Adios, by contrast, is a long, dense book, and might do for helping established students or writers, but is simply too large for a beginner to use. With the Elements in place, a writer can go forth and choose his or her own path. The authors of this book seem to be informed by television and video games and the magic of computers and miss the fact that good writing is good writing, no matter what the flavor of the month in popular culture might be.
I have taught writing, and I would no more use this book to teach writing than I would throw typewriters at my students to teach them typing. I had high hopes for this book, expectations that were not met. If nothing else, this book serves to show that The Elements of Style is still a valuable tool for the modern writer, one that remains useful and the first book of choice to turn to when looking for a beginning guide to writing.

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has re-energized my classroom!!!!!!, August 2, 2004

By 

L. Edmunds "Lisa Edmunds a.k.a The Grammar Go... (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay, Third Edition (Paperback)

I am a college level English composition instructor, and I have been teaching ENC 1101 - Freshman Comp - for 15 years, so I really thought I had tried everything on earth to help guide my students toward writing competent, exciting essays.

I introduced this book as a text - with a traditional grammar handbook as a supplement - last Fall, and I have seen amazing results.
My students understand what they are reading - the theory and practice behind the skills in the book.
This book is so well-written and lively and interesting, my students are reading chapters I have not even assigned just for fun and because they were curious. They actually read on their own for FUN!!!!??? How many times does that happen with a composition textbook????
What this has done so much better than a traditional 'rhetoric' or 'writing' textbook is take my students out of that second grade format of relying on a 3-point thesis/5 paragraph format and inspire them to be bolder, more lively, more exciting writers.

Of course, we cover more formulamatic-based writing, as many tasks in college and the real world rely on that 'Barney-fied' 3 point thesis format, but "Adios, Strunk and White" has shown my students how to 'kick it up a notch,' as Emeril Lagasse would say.

They have become more attentive, exciting writers because of our use of this book in the classroom, and I KNOW this book has changed the way I think about writing and the teaching of writing!

44 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last!, December 2, 1999

By 

jason bartulis (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay (Paperback)

Adios helps me, an English and Philosophy major at Berkeley, to remember why the Word is a tool of redemption. Redemption from drab, i-before-e priestly grammar; redemption from instruction about how to write ABOUT great writers, without telling you how to BECOME a great writer. Moreover, Adios demonstrates that critical thinking and creative writing are not mutually exclusive, but actually require one another. Using wit, accessible theories and plenty of specific examples, the Hoffmans show how to achieve the essential aim of writing: clear, cogent and creative prose. Is there any other Truth? All other decrees are blasphemy. Thank you Gary and Glynis! Your book is a revlelation!