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Vinca LaFleur recommends…
How-To Resources
Carlson, Tony. The How of Wow. New York: AMACOM, 2005. Engagingly written, Carlson's book hammers home the point that effective communication requires at least three elements: data to be transmitted; a sender; and, crucially, a receiver. If the audience doesn't catch the pitch, then the communication has failed. Carlson argues your main objectives in a speech should be for the audience to remember you and remember your headline. Less ambitious goals than other coaches might suggest — but perhaps more realistic as well.
Cook, Jeff Scott. The Elements of Speechwriting and Public Speaking. New York: Collier Books, 1989. A brief and readable paperback with useful tips both on the mechanics of speechwriting and on how to master delivery. Includes a good chapter on "How to Build Oratorical Power" through use of rhetorical style — from alliteration and anaphora (starting sentences with the same words) to asyndeton (use of sentence fragments to quicken the pace).
Detz, Joan. How to Write and Give a Speech. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992 (2nd edition). This is the first speechwriting book I ever bought, and I still think it is one of the best. The information is practical and well-organized. The book includes a chapter on "special occasion" speeches and a reference list of some of the author's favorite speechwriting resources — which inspired me to share mine.
Dowis, Richard. The Lost Art of the Great Speech. New York: AMACOM, 2000. A thorough primer on speechwriting, replete with well-chosen excerpts and examples. While I don't share Dowis' view on the utility of outlines for speeches, I appreciated the logical layout of his book. Includes several chapters on public speaking and a useful appendix of resources.
Heath , Chip and Dan. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. New York: Random House, 2007. This clever and practical volume wins my how-to "Reader's Choice" award. Even its trompe l'oeil cover is "sticky" — it captures your imagination and stays there. While not directed at speechwriters per se, the book contains numerous tips, tricks, exercises, and examples to make your words more concrete, more powerful, more persuasive, and ultimately more memorable. Useful for teachers, advertising executives, marketers, and public speakers of all kinds as well.
Jones, Susan. Speechmaking: The Easy Guide to Writing and Giving Speeches. Great Britain: Politico’s, 2008 (revised edition). A practical and well-organized “how-to” guide book from the other side of the Atlantic. Ms. Jones is British, and she illustrates her arguments with numerous examples from UK speakers – Winston Churchill and Gordon Brown to Michael Caine and Helen Mirren. She includes useful chapters on special occasion speeches, and on managing speechwriter-client relationships, as well as various mnemonic devices, charts, and checklists to help organize and polish your text.
Luntz, Dr. Frank. Words that Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear. Hyperion, 2007. From the man who brought us the Contract with America, who turned the "estate tax" into the "death tax," "tax cuts" into "tax relief," and "oil drilling" into "energy exploration," a peek behind the spinmeister's curtain. Luntz is a Republican pollster, so readers may be surprised to see John Kerry's blurb on the back of the book. But many of Luntz' communications prescriptions transcend partisan politics — as does his relentless emphasis on audience perceptions.
Noonan, Peggy. On Speaking Well. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. As Noonan says in the introduction, "This is a book of advice and anecdotes about the writing and giving of speeches." It is less formally structured and practical than some of the others, but Noonan's clever, witty style is always enjoyable to read. Her anecdotes and writing samples are frequently drawn from her own experience with Presidents Reagan and Bush — a bit self-serving, but you'll forgive her because she's so darn good.
www.usintheworld.org — This practical and forward-looking site, developed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Aspen Institute, is designed to help individuals and organizations talk to Americans about global engagement in an increasingly interconnected world. It includes a terrific guide that you can download for free or purchase, with concrete tips and tactics for discussing foreign policy in terms non-experts will understand; my favorite part is a "wonk-speak translator" that puts technical terms like "counterproliferation," "hegemony" and "nation building" into plain, conversational English. A very helpful resource for foreign policy speechwriters.
Speechwriter's Life
Erdal, Jennie. Ghosting. Doubleday (US edition), 2005. This fascinating book tells the story of Erdal's 15-year career as the ghostwriter for a famous and flamboyant British publisher. While not about speechwriting per se, the book explores many of the challenges, contradictions, unique pleasures and frustrations of writing under someone else's name. A great read.
Frum, David. The Right Man. New York: Random House, 2003. Ever wonder about the man who coined the phrase "Axis of Evil"? This is his story of an unforgettable year in the Bush White House — from the beginning of the administration through 9/11 and the launch of the war on terror — and a revealing glimpse of the way Bush's public rhetoric is informed by his personal faith.
Gelderman, Carol. All the President's Words. New York: Walker and Company, 1997. A survey of presidential public speaking from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. Not a particularly jolly read, but a decent historical guide.
Katz, Mark. Clinton and Me. Miramax, 2004. Mark was President Clinton's humor writer during Washington's annual "silly season" — for speeches at the Alfalfa Club, Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner, and more. The book is very funny, as one would expect — and also a lesson in how and why humor can be effective in public communication, even at the highest levels and in the most serious times.
Noonan, Peggy. What I Saw at the Revolution. Ivy Books, 1990. The classic Washington memoir about life in the Reagan White House, written from the speechwriter's perspective. Includes wonderful stories about memorable speeches, from the Challenger disaster to the WWII memorial at Pointe du Hoc, while unveiling the interplay between public words and public policy — and the evolution of one young woman's political allegiances. A must-read.
Ritter, Kurt and Medhurst, Martin J. Presidential Speech-Writing: From the New Deal to the Reagan Revolution and Beyond. Texas A & M University Press, 2003. This fascinating collection of essays examines the differences in modern presidents' approaches to and appreciation for the role of speeches in their policymaking and leadership. I found the chapter on President Carter especially enlightening, and the way "the tension between Carter's creative impulses with language and his notion of language as artificial" sabotaged his ability to leverage the bully pulpit.
Schlesinger, Robert. White House Ghosts: Presidents and their Speechwriters from FDR to George W. Bush. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. U.S. News and World Report journalist and blogger Robert Schlesinger does a wonderful job of telling the stories of U.S. presidents and their pens, from “literary clerk” Judson Welliver, who helped President Warren Harding (after Harding’s inaugural was lambasted in the press as reminiscent “of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights”) to the team – including many of us at West Wing Writers – who served as President Bill Clinton’s scribes. Great insight into the way the presidential speechwriter’s role has evolved along with successive administrations.
Sorensen, Ted. Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History. New York: Harper, 2008. A candid and affecting reflection on a life of public service at the side of one our nation’s most charismatic leaders – and someone Sorensen loved and revered with an intensity that comes through on every page. As our Clinton White House speechwriting colleague Ted Widmer wrote in the Washington Post, “There will never be another speechwriter like Ted Sorensen, if only because there will never be a relationship like the one between Sorensen and John F. Kennedy. Staffs have mushroomed along with expectations that presidents will speak more or less incessantly, on all subjects, from Earth Days to birthdays…and few writers stay with a politician for anything like the length of time Sorensen worked for Kennedy, from January 1953 to Nov. 22, 1963. Arguably, he has never stopped working for him.”
Waldman, Michael. POTUS Speaks. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. POTUS stands for President of the United States; Waldman was President Clinton's chief domestic speechwriter for most of Clinton's eight years in office. He offers an inside take on the words that shaped the Clinton presidency, and a window on the occasional chaos of the Clinton White House — leavened with a dose of perspective and a self-deprecating sense of humor.
Speech Collections
Most governments have senior level speeches online; most major corporations post CEO speeches on their websites; countless historical archives and other specialized collections can be found through a quick search on Google. A few less obvious websites to explore:
www.americanrhetoric.com — This fascinating site includes not only the transcripts but also the audio and video of thousands of American speeches from government, public life, and even Hollywood.
gos.sbc.edu — Sweet Briar College maintains this list of women's speeches, from 19th century suffragists through contemporary Nobel Prize winners.
www.historychannel.com — This site has audio from scores of speeches, old and new.
And among the many speech collections that have been published:
Waldman, Michael. My Fellow Americans. Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2003. In this large "coffee table" volume, former Clinton speechwriter Michael Waldman presents what he considers to be the 43 most significant speeches by U.S. presidents — George Washington's first inaugural through George W. Bush's 2003 address on Iraq as America went to war. Waldman introduces each selection with a brief essay putting the speech in historical context and highlighting why it was chosen. But the coolest feature of the book is the accompanying CD, with the actual voices of every U.S. president since Benjamin Harrison.
Quotation Books
There are dozens of quotation books on specialized topics, and countless generalized collections. There are also innumerable quotation collections on the Internet: My favorites are www.quotegarden.com and www.thinkexist.com.
Below are some of the well-thumbed volumes in my library:
Baker, Daniel B. Power Quotes. Visible Ink Press, 1992. The more than 4,000 soundbites in this book focus on general categories of government power, from Bureaucracy to Women in Politics. Within each section, quotations are arranged chronologically; some date back to Plato. Especially useful on topics like Freedom and Leadership. Includes an author index.
Boone, Louis E. Quotable Business. Random House, 2nd Edition, 1999. This book has 2,800 terrific quotations about corporate life, organized by topic. Many have application beyond the business world. One of the better reference books out there.
Byrne, Robert. The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said. Fireside Books, Simon & Schuster, 2003. As the title indicates, this is a book of 2,548 fabulous (and frequently irreverent) quotations. Regrettably, the book has no organization; to find a quotation, you have to read the whole thing or struggle through the author and keyword indexes at the back. If your client likes humor, it's well worth your time; otherwise it's just too frustrating to use.
Cook, John. The Book of Positive Quotations. Minneapolis, MN: Fairview Press, 1997. I love this book; I probably use it more than any other. It is bursting with inspirational, motivational quotations from a wide range of sources, organized by theme (Peace of Mind, Happiness, Acceptance, Forgiveness, etc.). While admittedly new-agey in concept, the quotations are genuinely life-affirming. A terrific resource for special occasion speeches of all kinds.
Fitzhenry, Robert I. The Harper Book of Quotations. Harper Perennial, 3rd edition, 1993. This general collection has a good assortment of quotations on a wide range of topics, organized alphabetically. Many are funny; some hard to find in other books (e.g. a section on Canada and Canadians). Author index at the back.
Frank, Catherine. Quotations for all Occasions. Columbia University Press: 2000. At last, a book with the perfect quotation for enlivening remarks about Aunt Mary's 50th birthday… your nephew's graduation… moving in… moving out… November… or simply Tuesday. Logically organized and fun to browse.
Gordon, Bill. How Many Books Do You Sell in Ohio? Akron, Ohio: North Ridge Books, 1986. This slim volume is devoted to quotations about writing. Organized by topic — accuracy, blurbs, books, censorship, collaboration, etc.
Griffith, Joe. Speaker's Library of Business Stories, Anecdotes and Humor. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall: 1990. Not as good as the Boone book above, but a useful resource nonetheless. Includes lots of anecdotes as well as quotations; unfortunately, many are too dated to use. I rely on it mostly to spark my own creativity.
Grothe, Dr. Mardy. Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You. New York: Penguin Books, 1999. Also, Oxymoronica. New York: Harper Collins, 2004. These two books are full of wonderful one-liners, chosen by a true lover of language. The first is devoted to chiasmus, or what we in the Clinton White House used to call "reversible raincoats" — the practice of swapping the key words in parallel phrases. (Think John F. Kennedy and "Ask not…") The second is a collection of what Mardy calls "paradoxical wit and wisdom from history's greatest wordsmiths." Both are entertaining to read.
Levine, Mark. L. and Rachlis, Eugene. The Complete Book of Bible Quotations. New York: Pocket Books, 1986. This is a great book if your client likes to use biblical quotations. Organized and cross-referenced by keyword (abandonment, ability, absence, etc.), it vastly simplifies the search for the perfect lines of Scripture.
Shapiro, Fred R. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006. Finally a quotation book that is as thorough as it is contemporary! This weighty volume contains well-chosen remarks, not just from the "modern giants of quotability" such as Shaw, Churchill, Twain, and Parker, but also less traditional yet no less thought-provoking authors, such as Eggers, Sendak, Lennon, and Rowling. Organized alphabetically by author, it also includes large sections devoted to advertising slogans, modern proverbs, film lines, and political slogans, with a subject index at the back. A must on any modern speechwriter's shelf.
Tripp, Rhoda Thomas. The International Thesaurus of Quotations (paperback edition). Perennial Library, 1987. This massive tome is more scholarly than most quotation books. I like it because it is thorough and easy to use, with indexes by categories, key words and authors. It includes more poetic and literary quotations than most reference books of this kind.
Warner, Carolyn. The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes. Prentice Hall: 1992. This is the best collection of women's quotations I've ever seen — not because it is the most comprehensive, but because so many of the quotations are so good for use in speeches. While the speakers of the quotes are female, the book has application for all audiences.
Books About Writing and Language
Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line By Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing. Houghton-Mifflin, 1985. Authored by an experienced copy editor, this unflaggingly thorough guide helps show by example how to make your writing more clear, concise and effective. Not exactly thrilling reading, but an excellent tutorial.
Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers — 25th Anniversary Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Elbow is a writing coach, whose innovative, creative approach is especially helpful to people who struggle with writer's block. He advocates free-writing first and editing later — which takes practice, but can be liberating! His own literary style is charmingly confessional, replete with introspective journal entries that capture the delights and despair of the writing life.
LaRocque, Paula. Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing. Oak Park, IL: Marion Street Press, 2000. LaRocque claims to be "America's foremost writing coach." Given that I had never heard of her before I spied this book at the store, I don't believe the hype. That said, her book — which is a collection of columns that appeared in Quill magazine — is a snappier read (albeit far less technical, thorough, or professional) than the Cook book above.
Lederer, Richard. Crazy English. Pocket Books, 1998. Lederer delights in language, and this book is delightful to read. Why, after all, do we park in driveways and drive on parkways? Why is our lexicon larded with oxymorons like mobile home, inside out, jumbo shrimp? Why do we call a South American rodent a guinea pig? And on and on and on.
Lynch, Jack. Guide to Grammar and Style. This independent website, authored by Rutgers English professor Jack Lynch, is a wonderful collection of style and grammar rules and explanations, written in an edgy, often hilarious tone. It can take some time to explore, but it's very thorough and smart. The site also includes a bibliography of Lynch's favorite style guides.
www.poynteronline.org — This website is primarily targeted at journalists, but much of its content is helpful to writers of all kinds. I especially like Roy Peter Clark's "Fifty Writing Tools," organized as page-view tips with titles such as "Use Strong Verbs," "Fear Not Long Sentences," and "Riffing for Originality."
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well — 25th Anniversary Edition. Quill Books, 2001. I strongly recommend Zinsser's book, which focuses on the principles, methods and forms of writing non-fiction. His warmth, clarity, and sensible advice are useful for writers of all levels.
Specialized Reference
Bennett, Howard J. The Doctor's Book of Humorous Quotations. Philadephia, PA: Hanley & Belfus, 2001. This slim paperback, written by a Washington DC pediatrician, is full of one liners and jokes about the medical profession. May be useful if you do a lot of writing about health care issues.
Cerf, Christopher and Navasky, Victor. The Experts Speak (Updated and Expanded Edition). New York: Villard, 1998. This unusual book calls itself "the definitive compendium of authoritative misinformation." It is essentially a quotation book of experts who got it wrong. — e.g. "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home," Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977. Very useful for illustrating how times and opinions change.
Freeman, Chas. F, Jr. The Diplomat's Dictionary, Revised Edition. United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington: 1997. A terrific resource for speechwriters who cover the foreign policy beat. Written by a career foreign service officer, ambassador, and assistant secretary of defense, it includes his observations as well as quotations and anecdotes from characters ranging from Napoleon to Kissinger.
www.highbeam.com — This is an easy to use compendium of print media sources, searchable by keyword. It's especially helpful if you are going to a local community you don't know much about, or writing on a specialized topic. Also a good place to find profiles of public figures.
Humes, James C. Classic Podium Humor. Castle Books, 2002. It is hard to find good reference collections of humor. "Funny" is a tough commodity to package. This book by Humes, a longtime speechwriter who began his career in the Eisenhower administration, includes more usable material than most — mostly because it relies on renowned speakers like Ben Franklin and Winston Churchill.
www.idea-bank.com — This (expensive) subscription service, run by a former speechwriter, is an online researcher's boon. Its thousands of quotations, anecdotes and jokes — organized into general categories (quotations, proverbs, anecdotes, humor and history today) — are specifically chosen for their relevance and utility in speeches. To find them, you need to do keyword searches — e.g. "hope" or "education." The good news: A high ratio of usable material and an excellent "This Day in History" database. The bad news: Because the site lacks a general index, it's difficult to narrow your searches efficiently.
Morris, Desmond. The Book of Ages. New York: Viking, 1983. This unusual book includes all sorts of colorful tidbits of information connected with ages 1 to 100. Useful if you find yourself writing lots of commemorative remarks for birthdays and anniversaries.
Urdang, Laurence. The Oxford Thesaurus, American Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. I love my thesaurus. Really. I cherish, adore, hold dear and treasure my thesaurus. I use it not only to find a fresher, more accurate word, but also to spark my creativity and channel ideas in new directions. This Oxford edition is first-rate; organized dictionary-style with an index at the back. Highly recommended.
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