In this "great and necessary addition to the canon of Vietnam War memoirs" the author "is a thoroughly human Virgil guiding us through the hell of combat" ( New York Journal of Books).Peter Clark's year in Vietnam began in July 1966, when he was shipped out with hundreds of other young recruits as a replacement in the 1st Infantry Division. Assigned to the Alpha Company, Clark gives a visceral and vivid account of life in the platoon as he progresses from ...

A special 10th anniversary edition of Roy Peter Clark's bestselling guide to writing, featuring five bonus tools.Ten years ago, Roy Peter Clark, America's most influential writing teacher, whittled down almost thirty years of experience in journalism, writing, and teaching into a series of fifty short essays on different aspects of writing. In the past decade, Writing Tools has become a classic guidebook for novices and experts alike and remains one of the...

From one of America's most influential teachers, a collection of the best writing advice distilled from fifty language books -- from Aristotle to Strunk and White.With so many excellent writing guides lining bookstore shelves, it can be hard to know where to look for the best advice. Should you go with Natalie Goldberg or Anne Lamott? Maybe William Zinsser or Stephen King would be more appropriate. Then again, what about the classics -- Strunk and White, or even Ar...

One of America's most influential writing teachers offers writing lessons we can draw from twenty-five great texts.Where do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate beyond the surface of a text to see how meaning is actually being made.In The Art of X-Ray Reading, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading glasses and join him on a guided tour through s...

"Very much a manual for the 21st century . . . a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone who cares about language-and is willing to argue about it." — New York Times Book ReviewEarly in the history of English, the words "grammar" and "glamour" meant the same thing: the power to charm. Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools, aims to put the glamour back in grammar with this fun, engaging alternative to stuffy instructionals. In this practical ...

America's favorite writing coach and bestselling author returns with an "indispensable" guide (Diana K. Sugg, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter) to writing clearly and honestly in a world full of lies, propaganda, and misinformation.The darker and more dystopian the future appears, the more influential public writers become. But with so much content vying for our attention, and so much misinformation and propaganda polluting public discourse, how can writers break th...

A guide to Public Speaking for the occasional speaker. By using the simple formula that the book explains in detail, anyone can successfully speak publicly at such events as a short presentation, a thank you or wedding speech.The method described is complete and includes examples to ensure the reader fully understands how to implement the preparation of their engagement to ensure complete confidence in the delivery of their speaking engagement.Anxiety being reduced to a min...

The essential guide to crafting the winning college admissions essay that only you could write, from America’s favorite writing coach.Most high school students never have received any instruction in how to write a personal essay. Yet at a time when getting admitted to their dream college is more competitive than ever, the admissions essay may turn out to be the single most important thing they will ever write. The stakes are high.In Writing Tools for th...

Sam Clemens escaped with his life from the Mississippi Valley in 1861. He went to the Nevada Territory in 1861 as the irreverent 20 something assistant to Sam’s brother, Orion, the Territorial Secretary and 2nd most powerful person in the Nevada Territory— second only to Governor Nye, with whom Sam lost a debate on State’s rights (& wrongs).He tried to be a peacemaker with his sarcastic wit during the disagreement that came to be known as the Civil War. But while he succeeded in a ...

The Woman of the Flask is a most original novel a blend of grim realism and fantasy. Two Iraqi exiles reach Switzerland, having escaped from Saddam's Iraq. One of them, Adam, has brought with him an old flask found among the possessions of his late father who came from the Marshlands of southern Iraq. He polishes it and opens it: a fabulously beautiful nubile young woman appears. She has, it emerges, been the lover of his ancestors going back five thousand years. The novel weaves together ...

The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head.In Help! For Writers, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face. In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers ten short solutions to each problem. Out of id...

America's most influential writing teacher offers an engaging and practical guide to effective short-form writing." How to Write Short is a deeply practical guidebook and an annotated collection of concise gems from some of the world's greatest writers and journalists, not one of them longer than 300 words. Roy's message is clear: great writing is a matter of craft, not word count. How to Wri...