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Elgin Book Reviews and Links
This list is not exhaustive and is narrowed to books I consider important.
Gentle
Art Books
Much of Dr. Suzette Haden Elgin's work has been to try to make her "gentle
art" accessible to lay persons. These books are powerful and readily understood
by most readers. I have found them extremely valuable in my practice
and have seen them work for a substantial number of clients
and friends. |
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The Gentle Art of Communicating with Kids, Published by John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. If you have children, you need to have read this
book.
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How to Turn the Other Cheek and Still Survive in Today's World, Published
by Thomas Nelson Publishers at $12.99 for 223 pages, it discusses how to
reduce and defuse verbal violence. It also explains how to work with
sensory modes in communication. This is one of several books the author has
written that explains and teaches the nuts and bolts of the techniques
that will become a part of the training of the next generation of dispute
resolution professionals.
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You Can't Say That To Me. This is Elgin's approach broken down
into an eight step program, with worksheets and review guides. The
book is designed to be accessible.
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"If you're trying to find the first book in the Gentle
Art series -- the one called simply "The Gentle Art of Verbal
Self-Defense" -- you're going to have trouble online. Dr. Elgin is doing
her best to straighten out the computer-error tangle responsible for this
problem; in the meantime, please contact her directly at ocls@ipa.net and
she'll see to it that you get your copy of the book promptly. It is not out
of print, and hasn't been out of print for decades; it's readily available,
for immediate shipment. She apologizes for the confusion." (Author's
statement, used at her request).
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The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense at Work, Second Edition is a book I
often recommend to other professionals and for which they are thankful.
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How to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable. A great book.
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There are other books. Visit her websites for more -- including one
of those books on-line. For links to Elgin's Sites, visit
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Other Non-Fiction
Suzette Haden Elgin has written other non-fiction works, some scholarly,
some accessible. Only a portion of those are discusses or referred
to here. |
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Genderspeak, John Wiley and Sons. Related to her Gentle Art
books, this book covers how and why men and women seem to speak different
languages. If you ever wanted to understand someone of a different
sex, and had problems, this book is a strong aid. It does not
provide rigid formulas or stereotypes.
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Newsletters -- Dr. Elgin has an informal on-line (free) newsletter.
Back issues are archived, with her permission at [Lingua]
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The Grandmother Principles, Abbeville. How to be a
grandparent.
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Dictionary of Laadan. Elgin's suggested women's language.
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Fiction
Dr. Elgin has written some allegorical fiction. It is regularly
used in college classrooms. Some of it is delightful, some of it is
provocative and thoughtful. |
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Ozark Series. This series is allegorical much as C. S. Lewis's
Narnia novels were allegories as well as novels. The books are aimed
at an older audience than Lewis's Narnia books and the allegories are not
as transparent. The books were best sellers in their genre and are
usually described as delightful and enjoyable. Strong, human literature.
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Women's Language Series. Strong feminist literature without
any hate. The stories tell of the rise, dissemination, and failure
of a "women's language" and finishes with a "what if" premise used
to explore other potentials. The final book's "what if" is a flooring
for an allegory, not hard sf (since the premise involves a perpetual motion
concept), and is background to the plot and not the focus of the book.
Recently re-released by Feminista Press.
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