- ISBN13: 9780345407511
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS LINGUIST OFFERS A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL ANALYSIS OF THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE–AND A REVOLUTIONARY LANGUAGE TO LIVE BY!
In her #1 bestseller You Just Don’t Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world. Now Tannen is back with another groundbreaking book, this time widening her lens to examine the way we communicate in public–in the media, in politics, in our … More >>
The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s War of Words
If you want to converse about argument, debate, shared insight, sophistry, truth, beauty, and the American way, etc., don’t bother with this dreck. Just read any Platonic dialogue.
Rating: 1 / 5
The premise of this book matches an observation I had come up with on my own — that intelligent debate, or just letting people be has been replaced on a cultural level with persistent and ubiquitous climate of belligerant and puerile namecalling. Thus when I heard about this book I was really excited and wanted to learn all abut Ms. Tannen’s insights and thoughts on this matter.
I was sorely disappointed. This book is not what it purports to be.
Most of the book is a longwinded rant about how Republicans are evil and must be stopped, unlike the Democrats who are as pure as the snow.
Among Ms. Tannen’s various swipes, she lashes out at people who oppose abortion as hateful rights-stealers, people who question whether there is a scientific basis for abortion as ignorant doofuses, etc etc. It just goes on and on.
If you are looking to read a book by a leftist who hates the right with a passion, this is the book for you.
If you are looking for an intelligent and thoughtful analysis of the problem of antagonistic debate, this book does not provide it.
Rating: 2 / 5
Oh, so disappointing. Kind of like a WHO album. You know “same old song with different lines”. A lengthy book that basically rearranges much of what she has already written. Not enough new or ground breaking information. Sorry, Dr. Tannen you may have ridden this horse too long!
Rating: 2 / 5
The author does a fine job of identifying where conflict exists and all the negative problems associated with this environment. Based on the title, I kept waiting for the “magic bullets” tor counteract our current argumentative culture. All nine chapters focused on the problem areas, while only two pages were dedicated to a sub-chapter titled “Moving From Debate To Dialogue.”
I felt the book was too negative and provided few true alternatives to the “Argument Culture.”
Rating: 2 / 5
Tannen’s thesis is interesting, but the whole book is just a collection of examples to back it up. She doesn’t offer any ideas or opinions on how to solve the problem. She could save everyone a lot of time by whittling down the length to about twenty pages; one to lay down her point and 19 (instead of 300) to list examples.
Rating: 2 / 5