Review:
Do Americans argue too much? Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and That's Not What I Meant!, is an expert on miscommunication. In The Argument Culture she posits that misunderstanding is endemic in our culture because we tend to believe that the best way to a common goal is by thrashing out all our differences as loudly as possible along the way. Thus we are treated to a whole array of confrontational public forums, from congressional partisan politics to media circuses à la Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones, all based on a metaphor of war. What gets lost in all the shouting, Tannen says, is thoughtful debate and real understanding. Perhaps it's time to consider other methods of communication, she suggests. In addition to outlining what she considers the worst excesses of our argument culture, Tannen revisits some of the territory covered in You Just Don't Understand as she discusses the different ways in which young boys and girls express disagreement or aggression. Finally, she offers a survey of other, mostly non-Western ways of dealing with conflict, including the use of intermediaries and rituals. After reading The Argument Culture you might never again look at the evening news in the same way.
From the Back Cover:
"[Deborah Tannen] is the world's most famous linguist . . . akin to Margaret Mead, who popularized the field of anthropology, or Stephen Jay Gould, who brought paleontology to a wider public."
--The Washingtonian
Praise for You Just Don't Understand:
"Utterly fascinating . . . a classic in the field of interpersonal relationships."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"People are telling Tannen that the book is saving their marriages. . . . You Just Don't Understand goes a long way toward explaining why perfectly wonderful men and women behave in ways that baffle their partners."
--The Washington Post
"Tannen's provocative book, remarkable for its accessibility amid all the complexities it explores, is sure to make people talk, and to give us hope in our struggle to be heard and understood."
--Mirabella
"Aside from the vivid examples and lively prose, what makes this book particularly engaging is that the author makes linguistics interesting and usable."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Tannen has a marvelous ear for the way real people express themselves and a scientist's command of inner structures of speech and human relationships."
--Los Angeles Times
"Deborah Tannen combines a novelist's ear for the way people speak with a rare power of original analysis."
--Oliver Sacks
Praise for Talking from 9 to 5:
"A book that everyone who has ever apologized needlessly, snapped at a subordinate, or withered from lack of praise should surely read."
--The New York Times
"Her most intriguing work."
--The Boston Globe
Praise for That's Not What I Meant:
"We are, all of us, foreigners to each other: editor and writer, man and woman, Californian and New Yorker, friend and friend. Dr. Tannen shows us how different we are and how to speak the same language."
--Jack Rosenthal, Pulitzer Prize winner and editor-in-chief, The New York Times Magazine
"Offers intriguing insights into where we go wrong with language--and how our problems get started."
--Mademoiselle
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