Shelby Steele wields words like an elite fencer. I read his words, and how he packs such vivid meaning, detail, and clarity into a sentence, I want to hate it. Hate it because it’s so good, and hate it because how he does it seems impossible. But I don’t hate it, Steele, resides among my top three favorite stylists.
What makes Steele special, is that he’s able to encapsulate meaning and atmosphere — cultural, social, political, ideology, emotion, experience, and more — into his word choices. Further, he’s able to direct it towards an argument. He states a position, states the position of the other side, and then wields a lethal argument. He is like a fencer, concise, poetic, poignant, a dance of pure talent, and then finishes with a lethal blow.
