The books
Books & works
Five decades of writing on how people connect, from a classic interpersonal communication anthology to a language philosophy and a practical guide to dismantling racism one conversation at a time.
Dismantling Racism One On One
Antiracism · Interpersonal Communication · 2023
One of the few antiracism books to focus on interpersonal rather than systemic racism. Drawing on true stories, it shows how identifying your own uniqueness, and honoring the uniqueness of others, can transform racist interactions one conversation at a time.
U&Me: Communicating in Moments that Matter
Interpersonal Communication · Revised Edition · 2014
A practical guide to the moments of communication that shape a life. Across eight life arenas (family, dating, work, learning, politics, and multicultural encounters), it shows how to make your listening and speaking “as personal as possible,” because nothing matters more to your relationships than how you listen and talk.
Personal Communicating and Racial Equity
Communication · Racial Equity · 2017
A short, readable handbook for communicating with people who are different from you. In nine steps built around curiosity, cultural humility, and “platinum empathy,” it guides readers toward the personal contact that breaks the cycle of fear and misunderstanding. It works equally well as a self-help guide or as the foundation for a workshop.
Bridges Not Walls
Interpersonal Communication · Anthology (11th ed.) · 2012
The interpersonal communication anthology used in classrooms across the country since 1973. Forty-five accessible readings by leading thinkers cover identity, listening, relationships, conflict, culture, and dialogue, grounded in the idea that communication is the continuous, collaborative work of making meaning together.
Language as Articulate Contact
Philosophy of Language · 1995
A work of language philosophy for scholars and students. It challenges the 2,000-year-old view of language as a “system of symbols” and argues instead that language is the way humans make articulate contact with one another, the primary means by which we become who we are.
Beyond the Symbol Model
Philosophy of Language · 1996
The companion volume to Language as Articulate Contact. An interdisciplinary collection in which philosophers, psychologists, linguists, and communication theorists debate whether language is fundamentally representational, or the constitutive activity through which meaning, reality, and truth are collaboratively made.
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Notes on communicating well
Occasional essays on communication, empathy, and equity, the same ideas John explores in his books and workshops, delivered to your inbox now and then.