The Genuine Teachers of This Art

"Readers will find here an eloquent exposition of the mean and ends of Classical rhetorical pedagogy, explaining in detail the role of rhetorical exercises, both elementary and advanced, in the traditional curriculum. In doing so, Jeffrey Walker provides a lucid survey of usually overlooked and undervalued texts, and provides as well a compelling argument as to why those texts need to be read by today's teachers of rhetoric and composition."—Thomas M. Conley, professor emeritus of communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Jeffrey Walker's The Genuine Teachers of This Art accomplishes two goals. For historians of rhetoric, Walker reinterprets Isocrates as the father of the technê, tradition. He reconstructs Isocrates's teaching methods and, drawing on papyrus fragments and analogous surviving texts, generates a convincing and illuminating version of Isocrates's own lost rhetorical treatise. For contemporary teachers, Walker argues persuasively for the relevance of the ancient rhetorical tradition to their own goals and, most importantly, classroom practices. Like his earlier Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity, Walker's latest book combines humane, common-sense analysis and interpretation with impeccable and elegant scholarship."—Marjorie Curry Woods, author of Classroom Commentaries: Teaching the Poetria nova across Medieval and Renaissance Europe