With Writing without Teachers (OUP 1975) and Writing with Power (OUP 1995) Peter Elbow revolutionized the teaching
of writing. His process method--and its now commonplace "free writing" techniques--liberated generations
of students and teachers from the emphasis on formal principles of grammar that had dominated composition pedagogy.
This new collection of essays brings together the best of Elbow's writing since the publication of Embracing Contraries
in 1987. The volume includes sections on voice, the experience of writing, teaching, and evaluation. Implicit throughout
is Elbow's commitment to humanizing the profession, and his continued emphasis on the importance of binary thinking
and nonadversarial argument. The result is a compendium of a master teacher's thought on the relation between good
pedagogy and good writing; it is sure to be of interest to all professional teachers of writing, and will be a
valuable book for use in composition courses at all levels.
