Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom

“Fish mines cultural touchstones from Milton to ‘Married with Children’ to explain how various types of arguments are structured and how that understanding can lead to victory” — New York Times Book Review

A lively and accessible guide to understanding rhetoric by the world class English and Law professor and bestselling author of How to Write a Sentence.

Filled with the wit and observational prowess that shaped Stanley Fish’s acclaimed bestseller How to Write a Sentence, Winning Arguments guides readers through the “greatest hits” of rhetoric. In this clever and engaging guide, Fish offers insight and outlines the crucial keys you need to win any debate, anywhere, anytime—drawn from landmark legal cases, politics, his own career, and even popular film and television. A celebration of clashing minds and viewpoints, Winning Arguments is sure to become a classic. 

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“The wish to escape argument is really the wish to escape language, which is really the wish to escape politics, and is finally the wish to escape mortality—and it won’t matter a whit.”

Ever wonder how gay marriage became accepted over such a short period, after thousands of years of peril? Or how you were dumb enough to get in that last quarrel with your significant other? Or how Donald Trump became the clear frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary? Or how millions continue to deny the devastating effects of global warming? In Winning Arguments, professor and New York Times bestselling author Stanley Fish touches on these hot-button issues as he reveals how successful argument can be used to win over popular opinion.

With wit and wisdom, Fish delves into a wide range of subjects, including Donald Trump, the Supreme Court, the logic of toddlers, Monty Python, the National Football League, Holocaust denial and creationism, the nature of political spin, and the fall of Adam and Eve. 

For students, teachers, lawyers, managers, husbands, wives—indeed, anyone looking to persuade their opponent—Winning Arguments is a fun read and a powerful tool that will stay with readers long after they finish the book. For, as Fish writes,  “argument is unavoidable, argument is interminable, argument is all we have.” |

“Both deeper and more democratic than The Elements of Style.” - Financial Times on HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE

“[Fish] shares his connoisseurship of the elegant sentence.” - New Yorker on HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE

“A guided tour through some of the most beautiful, arresting sentences in the English language.” - Slate on HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE

“How to Write a Sentence is a must read for aspiring writers and anyone who wants to deepen their appreciation of literature. If extraordinary sentences are like sports plays, Fish is the Vin Scully of great writing.” - Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, authors of They Say/I Say

Compelling...The points [Fish] presents are philosophical, metaphysical, even ontological. - Kirkus

An important book for any lawyer, scholar, or pundit-not to mention any spouse who has tried to walk back fractious words-Fish’s shrewd work can help everyone better understand the power of effective communication in everyday life. - Publishers Weekly

“Timely… readers will find this latest work simultaneously challenging and accessible.” - Library Journal