This instant classic will take its place next to Strunk and White's Elements of Style on every lawyer's shelf. It's a concise guide on how to write sentences that captivate and communicate. In ten chapters, readers will learn proper use of punctuation, tricks for spicing up prose, and also what not to do, via numerous examples. It's a book that will be referred to again and again, and is suitable for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills.
It took me a long time to learn, but as a teacher of writing I finally did get to learn the tricks of the trade. I mean not just avoiding errors but putting together sentences that have some sparkle. In "Modern Rules of Style," I pass on most of what I learned. Going through that little book one chapter at a time will upgrade anyone's writing. In "Jim Rouse: Capitalist/Idealist," I've written about a businessman who sought profit but always with the common good in mind. It's a book in which I think I've made good use of all those rules of style.
"Utopia in America" tells the story of some Nineteenth-Century Americans who formed communities they wanted to be more just and humane than those in mainstream America. As a freelance writer, I've incorporated into my articles many of my ideas about cooperation and sharing and making a more just society. My articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The New Republic, The Nation, The New Leader, Commonweal, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Hartford Courant, New Haven Register, Yankee, Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere.
I'm a Professor of English Emeritus at the University of New Haven. My Ph.D. is from NYU. I'm a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of Michigan. In addition to the University of New Haven, I've taught at Lehigh, NYU, and Southern Illinois.
