Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay, Third Edition

by Gary Hoffman, Glynis Hoffman

This guide for professional writers, college students and professors, K-12 teachers, and self-taught writers appeals to readers' rhythmic, spatial, and playful sensibilities to help them expand writing beyond the five-paragraph, academic word-box. The guide explains concepts with verve and humor, and encourages writers to develop a distinctive voice, showing how to merge style with critical thinking, logic, and research. The authors are professors of English. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

After a year in architecture at UC Berkeley, Gary Hoffman studied writing and literature at UCLA where he received his BA and MA. After finishing PhD course work at USC, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, he started a long career as a member of the Orange Coast College English department. His study of the Bauhaus approach to design at UC Berkeley influenced his methods for teaching writing; in 1984 he wrote WRITEFUL, a new approach to writing creative non-fiction. His wife Glynis helped to develop these ideas further and in 1997 Gary and Glynis coauthored, ADIOS, STRUNK & WHITE: A HANDBOOK FOR THE NEW ACADEMIC ESSAY. ADIOS is a resource book for teachers and writers that has also been used as a textbook at major colleges and universities.
Now, with over forty years teaching literature, art criticism and some studio art, Hoffman is well positioned to unravel the literary treasures of the Bible in his book POMEGRANATE GOSPEL: BIBLE REVIVALS FOR SECULAR TASTES. By offering both humorous and personal commentary through a variety of styles and forms—memoirs, literary analysis, epistles, Q&As, narratives, engagements with the visual arts—this book uses many of the approaches explained in ADIOS, STRUNK & WHITE to keep the reader a little off-balance, to open up a new awareness of the Bible’s secular richness.

Reviews

[Bryan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innovative and catchy new ways to come at writing. Any writer would find the advice and activities offered here helpful, but as a Language Arts teacher, I am excited to pursue the exercises herein as a way to do more passage modeling with my students. There's an accompanying workbook to this text that is also worth seeking out.

[Darren Girard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for a writing class but I now use it as my go-to resource guide on writing style/techniques. "Adios..." breaks all the traditional rules to push writers into producing fresh, intriguing material. Not your run of the mill style guide or English textbook. If you're a writer you'll love this book.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book offers some thoughtful responses to the Cult of Strunk and White. It's interesting; it just didn't thrill me.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this make me want to go and get my PhD in Rhet & Comp.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK writing book, but don't dump your Strunk and White.

[Lahni Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I liked this book! It was from English 101 in the early days of college but the writing tips stuck with me. Now, when I edit papers for others, I point out new ways to write things and make suggestions based on the book. And I have an autographed copy because the authors taught at my school. :)

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many editions will this classic go through? One might make a fair amount of money betting on its continuing publication! William Strunk himself was born in 1869 and died in 1946. This is one of the Bibles of writing and goes on and on, year after year. It is still routinely assigned at my academic institution in 2011.

[Liston Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taught me more about how to make my writing interesting than any other. If only I took more time to practice it's principals.

[Robert Hultman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tool for writers and writing teachers. A fresh approach to utilizing language that is opposite the high and mighty Do Not Do That of William Strunk Jr.

[Chang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adding -ing phrases to the main sentence.