ABSTRACT

By tracing the traditional progression of rhetoric from the Greek Sophists to contemporary theorists, this textbook gives students a conceptual framework for evaluating and practicing persuasive writing and speaking in a wide range of settings and in both written and visual media.

The book’s expansive historical purview illustrates how persuasive public discourse performs essential social functions and shapes our daily worlds, drawing on the ideas of some of history’s greatest thinkers and theorists. The seventh edition includes greater attention to non-Western rhetorics, feminist rhetorics, the rhetoric of science, and European and American critical theory. Known for its clear writing style and contemporary examples throughout, The History and Theory of Rhetoric emphasizes the relevance of rhetoric to today’s students.

This revised edition serves as a core textbook for rhetoric courses in both English and communication programs covering both the historical tradition of rhetoric and contemporary rhetoric studies.

This edition includes an instructor’s manual and practice quizzes for students at www.routledge.com/cw/herrick

chapter Chapter 1|31 pages

An Overview of Rhetoric

chapter Chapter 2|30 pages

The Origins and Early History of Rhetoric

chapter Chapter 3|19 pages

Plato versus the Sophists: Rhetoric on Trial

chapter Chapter 4|20 pages

Aristotle on Rhetoric

chapter Chapter 5|30 pages

Rhetoric at Rome

chapter Chapter 6|29 pages

Rhetoric in Christian Europe and North Africa

chapter Chapter 7|25 pages

Rhetoric in the Renaissance

chapter Chapter 8|23 pages

Enlightenment Rhetoric