The Gettysburg Approach to Writing and Speaking like a Professional is based on a course taught to European business executives by the author, who lives and teaches in Belgium. Philip Yaffe has an interesting background as an autodidactic, or a self-educated person. Aware of some insufficiencies in his English education, he taught himself grammar and worked on increasing his vocabulary and then took journalism classes to become a more succinct writer.

As the title implies, the methods used are classical in that you study and mimic excellent models of writing, such as those written by Lincoln and Shakespeare. One of the appendices is a line-by-line analysis of The Gettysburg Address as well as a line-by-line study of Marc Antony's (misspelled by the author as "Anthony's") soliloquy from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

The first part of the book addresses writing. Developing a thesis or claim with support, expository vs. creative writing, and writing professionally are some of the topics covered. The emphasis is on writing concisely, clearly, and densely. A potpourri of writing tips and techniques wraps up this section.

Next is a section on oral presentations, starting with a comparison between writing and speaking. The author also discusses getting the listeners' attention, use of body language, and effective use of slides. Some very helpful suggestions for overcoming anxiety are included as well.

Interestingly, more than half of the 286-page book is appendices, 13 to be exact. These run the gamut of grammar tips, ideas for engaging your readers, analyses of various writings, conciseness exercises, and oral presentation exercises.

While the focus of the book does seem to be business and expository writing, many of the principles will apply to writing and speaking in general, with much of the instruction useful to students. I think this book would be most interesting to high schoolers and adults.