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

~ (Author), Glynis Hoffman (Author) "Learning to write is the result of being smacked or blessed by English teachers..." (more)
Key Phrases: freshman composition assignment, dash skewer, dark imperfections, Harper's Magazine, Billy Faulkner, Devil's Advice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

" With ADIOS, a teacher may spend a lot of time mumbling, "Why didn’t I think of that?" Art Peterson -- National Writing Project, U.of California, Berkley, 1997

"ADIOS challenges all other books on the reference shelves, including Strunk and White’s ELEMENTS OF STYLE." Shirley Burst -- WRITING TEACHER NEWSLETTER, November 1997

ADIOS explains new notions of writing with a colorful tapestry of examples: high and low, literary and scientific. Donna Barnard -- Journal of the English Council of Two-Year Colleges, inside english, J. of Two-Year Colleges, March 1997

Adios helps me to remember why the Word is a tool of redemption from drab i-before-e priestly grammar... -- Jason Bartulis, English and Philosophy major, University of California, Berkeley, letter 2003 to Verve Press

Hoffman and Hoffman expose the secret weapons every good writer uses but might not even know they know. -- Audrey Davidow, Senior Editor, Angeleno Magazine, May 2003 letter to Verve Press

Product Description

ADIOS, STRUNK AND WHITE is subtitled "A Handbook for the New Academic Essay," but the ideas for creating original writing, style and alternative organizational forms apply to all writing tasks: scientific and creative non-fiction; business and personal.

The STYLE section offers a veritable linguistic palette for shaping and modulating written tone, underscoring content with "Flow" (ways for fearlessly generating long, grammatical sentences which capture complex realities), "Pause" (ways for dramatically creating emphasis and punch), "Fusion" (ways for crafting non-flowery, economical metaphors to compress and edit), and "Opt" (ways for altering perception by using first, second, and third person point of view).

The strategies in the FORM section are presented by problem-solution arrangement, the Hoffmans first identifying typical hurdles writers face when narrating, defining, arguing and intensifying: the difficulty of capturing a fleeting reality, the challenge of breaking through a reader’s cliché ideas, the need to deconstruct a self righteous position. Once the problem is explicated, the authors offer practical, original solutions: how to suspend time, how to bust clichés, how to mock, and finally how to "punch up" any piece of writing, with "Nettings," "Echoings," and "Masqueradings." At the end of the Form section, the Hoffmans offer four suggestions for transitioning between disparate strategies. The last section, aptly titled HEADWORK, offers a streamlined approach to critical thinking which includes a chapter on distinguishing between deductive and inductive reasoning, another chapter covering the pitfalls of critical analysis (i.e. logical fallacies and euphemism), the third section finally ending with swift counsel about conducting pertinent research—sound advice for graduate students, historians, and scientists.

All sections cull from such diverse sources as THE NEW YORKER, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, bird handbooks, and satiric posters, and include writers as varied as Aristotle and David Foster Wallace—the breadth of examples engaging both the rogue student and serious scholar. Writing concepts are presented in a conversational tone with helpful terminology that makes the most complicated principles of writing accessible. The book is full of startling, yet practical advice.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Verve Press; 3rd edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937363200
• ISBN-13: 978-0937363201
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #462,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 36 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 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.

27 of 34 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)

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!

43 of 56 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!