ABSTRACT
The study of American public address is in the midst of a remarkable renaissance. Widely perceived a decade ago as in serious decline, it is stronger today than ever before. This is evident not only in the quality of recent journal articles and convention papers, but also in the growing number of books by scholars in public address. Traditionally, of course, the study of public address meant the study of great speakers and speeches. Scholars in public address usually focused on the speaking careers of individual orators, and they typically employed what was known as the historical-critical method. A collection of encyclopedia-style essays on fifty-eight leading political, social, and religious speakers, American Orators of the Twentieth Century fills an enormous void in the literature on American public address. The deficiencies of traditional criticism in this regard are well illustrated by Marie Hochmuth Nichols’s well-known essay on Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address.
