Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Textbook
Review: The texts are well chosen, though perhaps less well edited. It's great to have Plato, Erasmus, Derrida, and Cixous all together, but I think the book could have been more carefully done. I think there's much in the selection from Aristotle that could have been cut, and much from Quintillian that should have been included (material from Book III, for example). The Cicero abridgement is poorly done--it's difficult to infer who's speaking at the beginning of the selection from Book II. Boethius doesn't really need to be here, and it's difficult to see how the Kristeva essay really has anything to do with rhetoric. And the introductory sections are not what they could be. Often, difficult technical terms in the selections that follow them are NOT explains and defined clearly in the introductory notes. This is a usable text that is not carefully done.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Textbook
Review: The texts are well chosen, though perhaps less well edited. It's great to have Plato, Erasmus, Derrida, and Cixous all together, but I think the book could have been more carefully done. I think there's much in the selection from Aristotle that could have been cut, and much from Quintillian that should have been included (material from Book III, for example). The Cicero abridgement is poorly done--it's difficult to infer who's speaking at the beginning of the selection from Book II. Boethius doesn't really need to be here, and it's difficult to see how the Kristeva essay really has anything to do with rhetoric. And the introductory sections are not what they could be. Often, difficult technical terms in the selections that follow them are NOT explains and defined clearly in the introductory notes. This is a usable text that is not carefully done.

Rating:
Summary: Rhetorical theory
Review: This book was tremendously helpful in establishing the history and current thought about rhetoric. The only complaint was that the feminist rhetoric section was grossly underrepresented. Excellent for ancient as well as modern studies.

Rating:
Summary: Rhetorical theory
Review: This book was tremendously helpful in establishing the history and current thought about rhetoric. The only complaint was that the feminist rhetoric section was grossly underrepresented. Excellent for ancient as well as modern studies.