Rhetoric gives our words the power to inspire. But it's not just for politicians: it's all around us, whether you're buttering up a key client or persuading your children to eat their greens. You have been using rhetoric yourself, all your life. After all, you know what a rhetorical question is, don't you?



In this updated edition of his classic guide, Sam Leith traces the art of argument from ancient Greece down to its many modern mutations. He introduces verbal villains from Hitler to Donald Trump - and the three musketeers: ethos, pathos and logos. He explains how rhetoric works in speeches from Cicero to Richard Nixon, and pays tribute to the rhetorical brilliance of AC/DC's "Back In Black". Before you know it, you'll be confident in chiasmus and proud of your panegyrics - because rhetoric is useful, relevant and absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

Writing tends to make people anxious, and with good reason. The first sentence of a job application letter can consign it to the bin. A speech intended to rouse can put a room to sleep. A mistimed tweet can cost you your job. And a letter to a beloved may aim to convey feelings of tenderness but end up making the recipient laugh rather than melt.

In this complete guide to persuasive writing, Sam Leith shows how to express yourself fully across any medium, and how to maximise your chances of getting your way in every situation. From work reports to Valentine cards, and from emails of condolence to tweets of complaint, Leith lays bare the secrets to successful communication, eloquence and off- and online etiquette. How do you write a job application, a thank-you card, or an email to your bank manager, to your children's headteacher, to your clients or your boss? How do you prepare a speech to win the argument, get the vote of confidence, or embarrass the bridegroom? Getting these things right - or wrong - can be life-changing.

Succinct treatments of the most general principles of style and composition, as well as examinations of specific modes of address (What is a subtweet? How do I write a moving elegy?) are accompanied by concrete and well-illustrated dos and don'ts and examples of wins and fails. Astute, sprightly and illuminating, Write to the Point will give you the skills and confidence you need to get your message across on every occasion.

A parliament of fools, or a confederacy of dunces? Blethering celebrities and blundering politicians, royal babies and right royal cock-ups, milkshake madness and vegan sausage rolls - and, of course, the long and winding road to Brexit.

If ever the times were ripe for a return to the high days of Augustan satire, it’s now – and the Spectator’s literary editor Sam Leith provides it.

Our Times in Rhymes is a waspish, affectionate and very funny look at the state of our nation as it – let's be even-handed - teeters on the cliff-edge of a marvellous opportunity. Here is all the insanity and inanity of 2019, month by cherishable month, rendered in galloping comic verse and paired with satirical drawings by the brilliant cartoonist Edith Pritchett.

It makes the perfect Christmas stocking filler for anyone who needs a good laugh at the damnable times we live in.

¿Qué tiene la retórica para estar en todas partes?

Una historia y una guía del arte de la persuasión.

La retórica está por todas partes. Cuando se hace una presentación ante un cliente importante, cuando un entrenador habla con sus jugadores en el descanso del partido, cuando se intenta convencer a los niños de que se coman la verdura. Hace que los gobiernos triunfen o caigan, que los delincuentes sean condenados o liberados y que hombres adultos y sensatos marchen decididos hacia las ametralladoras. La retórica es lo que convence y engatusa, inspira y embauca, entusiasma y engaña. Y no es solo el territorio de los políticos.

¿Qué ha hecho la retórica por nosotros? Para empezar, ha creado prácticamente toda la civilización occidental. ¿Qué es la democracia sino la idea de que el arte de la persuasión debe ocupar formalmente el centro del proceso político? ¿Qué es la ley sino una forma de otorgar a las palabras fuerza formal en el mundo y qué es un tribunal sino un lugar en el que el arte de la persuasión configura la sociedad civil? Y, en una sociedad en la que una persona o grupo ejerce el poder sobre los demás -es decir, cualquier sociedad- ¿cuál es el instrumento de dicho poder sino las palabras?

Sam Leith explora el arte de la persuasión desde sus orígenes en Grecia hasta su apoteosis en el siglo XXI. Relata las historias de sus villanos y sus héroes, desde Hitler hasta Cicerón, pasando por Martin Luther King, Homer Simpson, Obama, Jennifer Lopez o Nixon; explica los mecanismos de los grandes discursos; y, lo que es más importante, nos descubre que la retórica es útil, aplicable... y que no hay que tenerle ningún miedo.

La crítica ha dicho:
«Inmensamente entretenido. ¿Me hablas a mí? es un libro alegre, erudito y en ocasiones muy divertido acerca de la retórica, pero también es un agudo yexcepcional análisis de cómo funciona la política.»
The Literary Review

«Además de las anécdotas, Leith proporciona una inspiradora guía para usar la técnica. Este es un libro atractivo y apasionado.»
The Sunday Times

«Uno de los encantos de este libro es la soltura con la que Leith aborda sus contenidos, desde los más elevados a los más básicos. Maneja importantes textos antiguos que en bruto pueden ser irritantes con un toque deliciosamente ligero, sin sacrificar la seriedad ni la delicadeza.»
The Guardian

«Sam Leith revive la poderosa disciplina de la retórica clásica. Ya no es terreno de sofistas muertos. Ha vuelto a ser heroica.»
London Evening Standard

«Leith hace gala de un grado formidable de descaro intelectual. La retórica ya no es un tema arrinconado para gente pasada de moda. Determina cómo vivimos hoy.»
The Scotsman

«Leith da una relevancia actual a una antigua práctica. Pese a serriguroso en su análisis de la retórica en la historia, Leith no es en absoluto un pedagogo aburrido. Lea este entretenido e instructivo libro y nunca volverá a confundir occultatio con occupatio.»
The Times

To every explorer with his map upside down, to every air-traffic controller suddenly receiving Magic FM through his headphones, to every astronomer whose new planet turns out to be a bit of bran-flake on the eyepiece of his telescope, Sod's Law says: you are not alone.

Sam Leith tells the hilarious - and painful - stories of the unsinkable boat that sunk, the unbeatable horse that lost, and the fireproof theatre that burned to the ground. Sod's Law demonstrates that the entire universe is actually set up to ensure that your toast always lands butter side down and, what's more, that it lands precisely where the cat has shed hair all over the carpet.

In this age of doubt, fewer and fewer of us are able to believe that a higher power takes an interest in our fate. This book reassures us that indeed it does - and that that higher power is hell bent on buggering things up. Only by laughing heartlessly at the misfortunes of others can we make ourselves feel better. Sod's Law enables us to do just that.