How to Win Arguments

by William A. Rusher

This entertaining work, sprinkled with illustrative real-life anecdotes, is a comprehensive guide to the techniques, rhetorical devices and principles of successful argumentation. The author, a debater since age thirteen, has lectured widely. Publisher of the National Review, Rusher is also a television commentator and syndicated columnist. Originally published by Doubleday in 1981.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction

207 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1981

About the author

William A. Rusher was an American lawyer and conservative columnist.

In 1957, William F. Buckley, Jr. hired Rusher as publisher of National Review. Rusher was an early mentor of Young Americans for Freedom and was active in the campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

Rusher retired from National Review in 1988. During the hearings for the Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination, Rusher released a collection of documents related to the Concerned Alumni of Princeton group. He retired from writing politics in 2009.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realize it's dated, but Rusher pretty much just talked about how good he was at debating.

[Deborah Laajanen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laymen-oriented approach of logic, debate, and argumentation. Illustrations of the author are humorous and helpful to comprehend the argumentation rules and principles.

[Elliot Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn’t a bad book and it was pretty informative but I guess my expectations differed from what the book was about. I thought it would delve deep into the psychological aspects of debating and arguing such as hand gestures, tonalities of voice, etc… which it did touch upon but that wasn’t the main focus. The writer also seems to have had a fascinating life which I’d prefer to read about. Using analogies and personal experiences debating to make points about the purpose of arguing, techniques, and how to handle mistakes didn’t feel very connected for some reason, even if they worked.

All in all, I feel like I got a bunch of “tips and tricks” thrown at me which made this a book that can be useful to some, but was just pretty forgettable for me.

Some points I hope to remember and use going forward is to admit mistakes when they happen (a good general rule in life anyway), that speaking first or last has it’s advantages (which I don’t think is particularly important actually since you don’t have much control over that), and ways of speaking to government or private institutions (this was pretty interesting, talking about getting their attention and then creating more discomfort with your situation as to answer and resolve it as opposed to ignoring it).

I feel like this book is still useful in describing ways to argue effectively, but I guess the delivery and packaging wasn’t very interesting or memorable to me.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This National Review big wig came into popular prominence as a conservative debater on The Advocates TV Series on PBS. As such, he speaks largely to formal debate situations, along with some commentary on informal "arguments" such as disputes with a spouse and complaining to a corporation about customer service. His practical, direct advice lacks the technical minutiae of Latin-named logic constructions. The book includes an appendix of summary advice of other prominent debaters he surveyed.

[Ansh Yadav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice one