A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism

A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism offers the first major survey in two decades of the field of rhetorical studies and of the practice of rhetorical theory and criticism across a range of disciplines. The contributions are written by leading scholars from a variety of different fields and have all been specially commissioned for this volume. They focus on specific works, problems, or figures, pursuing theory and criticism from an engaged and practical perspective. The volume also includes an overview of rhetorical traditions, providing examples of rhetoric from ancient times to the present day. Designed to be accessible to a range of students and scholars, A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism elaborates in fascinating ways just what it means to 'think like a rhetorician.'

Walter Jost teaches in the English Department at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Wendy Olmsted teaches in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago.

"Walter Jost and Wendy Olmsted have produced a remarkable volume that serves equally well as an introduction to rhetorical studies and as a reference work for specialists. The range of the essays and the credentials of the contributors mark the book as important, but its most notable feature is the conception and development of a general work on rhetoric that remains connected with specific texts, historical contexts, and material circumstances ... The result is a volume impressive in its parts and invaluable in its totality - a must read." Michael C. Leff, Northwestern University