This book provides students, researchers, and practitioners of speechwriting with a unique insight in the theory, history, and practice of speechwriting. The combination of theory and practice with case studies from the United States and Europe makes this volume the first of its kind. The book offers an overview of the existing research and theory, analysing how speeches are written in political and public life, and paying attention to three central subjects of contemporary speechwriting: convincing characterization of the speaker, writing for the ear, and appealing with words to the eye. Chapters address the ethics and the functions of speechwriting in contemporary society and also deliver general instructions for the speechwriting process. This book is recommended reading for professional speechwriters wishing to expand their knowledge of the rhetorical and theoretical underpinnings of speechwriting, and enables students and aspiring speechwriters to gain an understanding of speechwriting as a profession.

Public Relations Writing: Principles in Practice is a comprehensive core text that guides students from the most basic foundations of public relations writing-research, planning, ethics, organizational culture, law, and design-through the production of actual, effective public relations materials. The Second Edition focuses on identifying and writing public relations messages and examines how public relations messages differ from other messages.

From 2007 to 2010 Swaim worked for Mark Sanford, South Carolina's governor, as a communications officer and speechwriter. Everyone knows this kind of politician: a charismatic maverick who goes up against the system and its ways, but thinks he doesn't have to live by the rules. Swaim tells the story of a band of believers who attach themselves to this sort of ambitious narcissist-- and what happens when it all comes crashing down.

Since the publication of his groundbreaking books Writing Without Teachers and Writing with Power, Peter Elbow has revolutionized how people think about writing. Now, in Vernacular Eloquence, he makes a vital new contribution to both practice and theory. The core idea is simple: we can enlist virtues from the language activity most people find easiest-speaking-for the language activity most people find hardest-writing. Speech, with its spontaneity, naturalness of expression, and fluidity of thought, has many overlooked linguistic and rhetorical merits. Through several easy to employ techniques, writers can marshal this "wisdom of the tongue" to produce stronger, clearer, more natural writing.This simple idea, it turns out, has deep repercussions. Our culture of literacy, Elbow argues, functions as though it were a plot against the spoken voice, the human body, vernacular language, and those without privilege-making it harder than necessary to write with comfort or power. Giving speech a central role in writing overturns many empty preconceptions. It causes readers to think critically about the relationship between speech, writing, and our notion of literacy. Developing the political implications behind Elbow's previous books, Vernacular Eloquence makes a compelling case that strengthening writing and democratizing it go hand in hand.

For this revised edition, Dean worked with high school teachers to refine, reorganize, and update the material to better support classroom teachers dedicated to teaching not just the process of writing but also the strategies that help students learn to write effectively throughout their lives. Deborah Dean is back with a significantly reenvisioned and revised edition of her popular Strategic Writing. After working with high school teachers who implemented the approach detailed in the first edition, Dean has refined, reorganized, and updated the material to better support classroom teachers dedicated to teaching not just the process of writing but also the strategies of writing that help students develop the ability to write effectively throughout their lives. Most of the changes were prompted by the desire to help teachers better understand an overall strategic approach that can counter the testing climate that pervades many schools. This approach works within a workshop model and uses the writing process as an umbrella framework. In addition to providing engaging and practical classroom activities, this new edition offers (1) explicit strategy talk, with lesson plans that differentiate between strategy, activity, and mini-lesson to further demonstrate how all three function in a strategic approach; (2) a focus on digital tools and genres, which have proliferated in the last ten years; (3) a more accessible organization, with the conceptual material in early, short chapters and the teaching ideas, examples of student work, and lesson plans in appendixes; and (4) grouping by types of strategies for better alignment with process than with rhetoric. As always, Dean considers students' out-of-school as well as in-school writing tasks, preparing them for a world in which writing is a critical skill, whether for school, work, information, or self-expression.

In White House Ghosts, veteran Washington reporter Robert Schlesinger opens a fresh and revealing window on the modern presidency from FDR to George W. Bush. This is the first book to examine a crucial and often hidden role played by the men and women who help presidents find the words they hope will define their places in history. Drawing on scores of interviews with White House scribes and on extensive archival research, Schlesinger weaves intimate, amusing, compelling stories that provide surprising insights into the personalities, quirks, egos, ambitions, and humor of these presidents as well as how well or not they understood the bully pulpit. White House Ghosts traces the evolution of the presidential speechwriter's job from Raymond Moley under FDR through such luminaries as Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., under JFK, Jack Valenti and Richard Goodwin under LBJ, William Safire and Pat Buchanan under Nixon, Hendrik Hertzberg and James Fallows under Carter, and Peggy Noonan under Reagan, to the "Troika" of Michael Gerson, John McConnell, and Matthew Scully under George W. Bush. White House Ghosts tells the fascinating inside stories behind some of the most iconic presidential phrases: the first inaugural of FDR ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ") and JFK ("ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country"), Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" and Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speeches, Bill Clinton's ending "the era of big government" State of the Union, and George W. Bush's post-9/11 declaration that "whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done" -- and dozens of other noteworthy speeches. The book also addresses crucial questions surrounding the complex relationship between speechwriter and speechgiver, such as who actually crafted the most memorable phrases, who deserves credit for them, and who has claimed it. Schlesinger tells the story of the modern American presidency through this unique prism -- how our chief executives developed their very different rhetorical styles and how well they grasped the rewards of reaching out to the country. White House Ghosts is dramatic, funny, gripping, surprising, serious -- and always entertaining.

"So... eh... before I start, I would like to say a little about myself and a little about why I have chosen this theme..." "BY ALL MEANS NO! You have already started! Actually, you have jumped the gun and that is just as foolish as a musician starting to play his instrument in the wings or on his way onto the stage. There is only one start and that has to be distinct." Mette Højen does not beat about the bush when she with immaculate precision, and a twinkle in her eye points out the rhetorical bad habits of corporate life. In a simple and informal style, she shows us how you stand to gain more from your speeches, meetings and presentations by making a few rhetorical adjustments. It is plain speaking with one clear objective: maximizing the return on your allotted speaking time – or put differently maximizing your rhetorical ROI.