Aristotle argued there were three ways to persuade: ethos, pathos, and logos. The threesome makes a handy package to remind each of us not to overlook the power of using three forms of persuasion.

Pathos and logos are the most crucial in nonfiction today. Ask yourself whether you’ve accompanied your assertions with enough of each. Do you have enough material speaking to readers’ humanness? Do you have enough evidence to win over readers’ minds?

Good leads in book chapters often appeal to both intellect and emotion. One good one is the opening of Chapter 5 from Iris Chang’s Rape of Nanking:

“In the history of every war, there are always a few rare individuals who emerge as beacons of hope for the persecuted. In the United States the Quakers freed their own slaves and helped establish the Underground Railroad. In Europe during World War II, Oskar Schindler, a Nazi, expended his fortune to save twelve hundred Jews from the Auschwitz gas chambers, and Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, saved more than one hundred thousand Jews by giving them false passports. Who can forget Miep Gies, the Austrian woman who together with others hid the young Anne Frank and her family in an Amsterdam attic?

“Dark times paralyze most people, but some very few, for reasons most of us will never understand, are able to set aside all caution and do things even they could not imagine themselves doing in ordinary times...” (page 105)

Chang gets her hooks into us as a reader by appealing to both our heads and hearts. (What would you have done in such dark times?) The two together make a great one-two punch.

And what about ethos? Ethos is the use of personal credibility to win people to our point of view. In books today, ethos is the least useful of the three persuasive devices. Although authors with recognized standing in their field do rely on at times, they should do so sparingly unless they are giants with undisputed authority. Henry Kissinger can give advice on diplomacy and warfare without supporting evidence. Stephen King can do the same for writing novels. But most of us need fresh and convincing content.

Ethos, pathos, and logos. Keep in mind that you have all three at your disposal. Click here for a few more classic examples.

[Revised January 2020. Originally published May 28, 2012]