Rhetoric: An Historical Introduction

This introduction to the art of rhetoric analyzes rhetorical concepts, problems, and methods and teaches practical inquiry through a series of classic rhetorical texts. An introduction to the art of rhetoric for those who are unacquainted with it and an argument about invention and tradition suitable for specialists Texts range from Cicero's De oratore and Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine to Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Stephen Greenblatt’s Marvellous Possessions Texts serve simultaneously as works of persuasion and considerations of how rhetoric works Engages readers in using rhetoric to deliberate about challenging issues.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments. List of Abbreviations. Introducting Rhetoric. Part I: Classical Rhetorical Traditions. Introduction. 1 The Rhetorician: Demagogue or Statesman? Plato's Gorgias and Aristotle's Rhetoric. 2 Eloquence, Persuasion, and Invention: Cicero's De oratore. 3 Rhetoric and the Search for God: Augustine's On Christian Doctrine and Confessions. 4 Practical Reason or Interested Calculation? Cicero's On Duties and Machiavelli's The Prince. Part II: Classical Rhetoric and Literary Interpretation. Introduction. 5 Tradition and Invention: Bacon's Aphorisms and the Essays. 6 Deception, Strong Speech, and Mild Discourse in Milton's Early Prose and Paradise Lost. 7 Prudence and Eloquence in Jane Austen's Persuasion. Part III: Rhetoric and Contemporary Disciplines. Introduction. 8 Literary Criticism and Rhetorical Invention: Wayne C. Booth's The Rhetoric of Fiction and Stephen Greenblatt's Marvelous Possessions. 9 Faction Politics and Rhetorical Invention: Eugene Garver's For the Sake of Argument and Danielle S. Allen's Talking to Strangers. 10 Legal Reasoning, Historical Contingency, and Change: Edward H. Levi's An Introduction to Legal Reasoning. Index.

About the Author :
Wendy Olmsted is Associate Professor in the New Collegiate Division and in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago as well as Associated Faculty Member in the Department of Classics (PAMW). Her previous publications include A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism, co-edited with Walter Jost (Blackwell Publishing, 2004) and Rhetorical Invention and Religious Inquiry, co-edited with Walter Jost (Yale University Press, 2000).

Review :
"Professor Olmsted has produced a much-needed and unique book: an account of rhetorical thinking through the ages focused on specific texts in their cultural contexts. The book does something far more important than impart mere doctrine: it demonstrates how, and teaches one, to think like a rhetorician. It will make an invaluable contribution in and out of the classroom." Walter Jost, University of Virgina "Wendy Olmsted gives scholars and teachers in many disciplines a valuable new kind of historical introduction to rhetoric. In three interrelated sections she provides a clear overview of classical rhetoric, incisive case studies of literature and rhetoric, and a suggestive discussion of rhetorical invention and argument in literary criticism, politics, and law. This book creatively teaches us how to think rhetorically through concrete historical examples of deliberation and judgment." Steven Mailloux, University of California