Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction

Rating:
Summary: A succinct primer for anyone interested in communication.
Review: Although Kennedy's background as a classical rhetorician would leave most wondering what he might have to say about comparative rhetorics, he treats a broad range of topics in, if not an exhaustive fashion, then in a way that opens the reader's mind to differences and similarities in culture and history. Kennedy has an unconventional view of rhetoric. One of the major premises the book operates on is that rhetoric drives and precedes communication instead of the other way round. An examination of this is included in a section on animal communication. If I were teaching a intercultural communications or a survey of rhetoric course it would be near the top of my students' reading list. Additionally, there is information here of interest to historians and anthropologists. Well worth reading.