Writing well, and persuasively, is a discipline that can be learned. This book introduces the essential skills, rules, and steps for producing effective political prose appropriate to many contexts, from the editorial, the op-ed, and the polemical essay to other forms both weighty and seemingly slight. Drafting commission reports, policy memoranda, and press releases requires skill. Writing speeches or ghosting essays for a principal calls upon special sensitivities. There are rules for ceremonial remarks, letters, and toasts; blogging is best done with some discipline; and the editorial arts are both various and undervalued. Author Adam Garfinkle, founding editor of The American Interest , with long experience as a political prose writer in many venues, developed a course in political writing for interns working in government and think tank offices in Washington, DC. This book makes that course, along with a sprinkling of the author's trademark wit and wisdom, widely available.