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The Language Wars
A History of Proper English

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The English language is a battlefield. Since the age of Shakespeare, arguments over correct usage have been bitter, and have always really been about...
  
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The Secret Life of Words
How English Became English

Picador
AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account of the transplanted, stolen, bastardized words we've come to know as the...
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Alphabet Juice
The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Sarah Crichton Books
“If everybody’s first English teacher were Roy Blount Jr., we might still be trillions in debt, but we would be so deeply in love with words and their magic ....
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How Fiction Works

Picador
In the tradition of E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, How Fiction Works is a scintillating study of the magic...
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A Matter of Opinion

Picador
Winner of the 2005 George Polk Book Award Victor S. Navasky is the renowned editor, writer, and educator who was at the helm of The Nation for almost...
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The Situation and the Story
The Art of Personal Narrative

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks
A guide to the art of personal writing, by the author of Fierce Attachments and The End of the Novel of Love All narrative writing must pull from the raw...
  
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The College Admissions Mystique

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks
In this fresh and plainspoken book, admissions professional Bill Mayher demystifies the college application process, guiding students and parents through this...
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The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself
Writing and Living the Zona Rosa Way

Faber and Faber, Inc.
For more than fifteen years, Rosemary Daniell has led Zona Rosa, a creative writing workshop for people of all ages and all walks of life. In this dual memoir...
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Getting What You Came For
The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks
Is graduate school right for you? Should you get a master’s or a Ph.D.? How can you choose the best possible school? This classic guide helps...
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Games for Writing
Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Write

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks
There is no skill more important for a child to master more than writing - and none more difficult or fraught with anxiety. Peggy Kaye, renowned teacher and...

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Literary Terms
A Dictionary

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks
For all those who have become entangled in the ever-burgeoning sphere of confusing literary terminology, Professors Karl Beckson and Arthur Ganz provide clear...