Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers

Jacques Barzun was born in France in 1907 and immigrated to the United States in 1920. After graduating from Columbia College, he joined the university's faculty, eventually becoming Seth Low Professor of History and Dean of Faculties and Provost for a decade. He received the Gold Medal for Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he was thrice president, for his thirty works, including the New York Times bestseller From Dawn to Decadence. He lived in San Antonio, Texas, until he died at the age of 104.

After a lifetime of writing and editing prose, Jacques Barzun has outlined his recommendations for improving one's style in Simple and Direct. His explanations of diction, grammar, tone, meaning, composition, and revision walk the reader through the process of making the written word plain and pleasant to read. Exercises, literary and casual model passages, and hundreds of funny examples of incorrect usage demonstrate how to find the appropriate road to self-expression in forceful and distinctive language.

Author: Jacques Barzun

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Direct-Rhetoric-Jacques-Barzun/dp/0226038688/

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