Rhetoric of RHETORIC

The Quest for Effective Communication

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by Wayne Booth

Blackwell Publishers

Due/Published November 2004, 208 pages, paper

ISBN 1405112379

The Rhetoric of RHETORIC is a manifesto addressed to a broad audience, dramatizing the importance of rhetorical studies and lamenting their widespread neglect. In it, critic Wayne C. Booth claims that communication in every corner of life can be improved if only we study rhetoric more closely.After exploring and combating the various pejorative definitions of "rhetoric" and briefly tracing its history, Booth explores the consequences of bad rhetoric in education, in politics, and in the media. A few cures for bad rhetoric are offered, and a final chapter investigates the possibility of reducing harmful conflict by practicing a rhetoric that depends on deep listening by both sides. The key example used is the warfare between science and religion.

Series:Blackwell Manifestos

Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart I Rhetoric's Status: Up, Down, and Ð Up?1 How Many "Rhetorics"?2 A Condensed History of Rhetorical Studies3 Judging Rhetoric4 Some Major RescuersPart II The Need for Rhetorical Studies Today5 The Fate of Rhetoric in Education6 The Threats of Political Rhetrickery7 Media RhetrickeryPart III Reducing Rhetorical Warfare8 Can Rhetorology Yield More Than a Mere Truce, in Any of Our "Wars"?ConclusionNotesIndex