Writing can effect change.
How so? It's called Persuasive Writing and Palast is a king. His gonzo style is funny, cynical and ruthlessly clear. His anecdotes, hyperboles and rhetorical questions are stylish and surprising. He quotes interesting characters and paints beautiful settings. He addresses the reader directly. He uses alliteration, facts, stats and the Rule of 3.
These are techniques from high school English class and when you see em you know you're on One Side of the Argument. Palast rams his points home with emotive language and poignant stories of personal tragedy. By the end, I was raring to go, 100% convinced, ready to lynch the nearest billionaire.
But at the same time, I'm reading Ronald Regan’s autobiography and his Side of the Argument is no less convinced, certain and human.
Here I am, stretched out between the two, torn between this truth and that. That's where I like to sit as a reader - somewhere right in the middle of things.
Palast’s story helped me understand subprime lending and why Hurricane Katrina was so fucked up, but he also gave me a masterclass in the tricks, tools and techniques of persuasive writing and I'll take that shit right to the bank.
Further reading
If you’re interested in reading more lessons on writing, here are the previous posts in the series:
108: Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav M. Zubok
107: Why They Kill by Richard Rhodes
105: Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy
104: Dragon’s Teeth by Michael Crichton
103: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
102: Mustang Man by Louis L’Amour
100: Congo by Michael Crichton
99: State of Fear by Michael Crichton
1-98: I did as podcasts on Spotify which you can listen to here.
House of Electric Sheep
Follow me if you’re on X.
Or find my novels on Amazon:
Team Human: WWIII told through 14 short stories. 14 perspectives of radicalisation, depersonalisation and violence.
Eden 2.0: Sci-fi short stories for this brave new world we all live in.
Ravenstone: An epic adventure following Eamon McCrea up a mountain, passing through magical, mystical kingdoms along the way.
one time: 90-something short-short stories that I originally published on Twitter. Each one comes with a hand-done collage as a pairing.
Conversations with America: My 10,000-mile hitchhiking trip across the USA in 2009, told through the stories of the people I met.
Read hard. Read wide. Read free.