You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama Sam Leith
Publisher: Profile Books

Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama. Full of old men in togas droning on, Latin words you can barely wrap your tongue around and all manner of complicated rules? Churchill, Lincoln and Martin Luther King all hold court of course. Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama has quite a cast. Aristotle said there were three appeals that rhetoric could make: ethos, pathos and logos. Not so in Sam Leith's new book You Talkin' To Me? How to be an MP: Paul Flynn MP; You Talkin' to me? He traces the art of persuasion from its ancient origins to the modern world. Leith's book is, in fact, a magnificently entertaining romp through the intricacies of classic rhetorical technique from Aristotle to Obama. Hitler, and even Satan, work their spells. Here are some notes on what to look for. A conference speech seeks to turn, and a great conference speech succeeds in turning, “me and you” into “we.” Hence the workmanlike To adapt Barack Obama's ploce that one should “disagree without being disagreeable,” then, the effective conference speaker will use repetition without being repetitious.