The Public Work of Rhetoric

"This collection of essays raises fundamental questions about the mission and methods of rhetorical studies. The essays should be read and discussed widely by all concerned with the social role of our field."—Rhetoric Review

"The essays in this collection report lively, inventive, intelligent, and engaged responses to the Republic's need for capacitated citizens. They offer impressive studies of how we enter into public problems in our communities, how rhetoric has constituted counterpublics among the underclass, how rhetoric's performative power can serve liberatory ends, how the community can be a resource that is an invaluable resource for the civic education of our students. It is the place where democracy comes alive in the rhetorical practices of the students and those outside the university whom they engage. The work reported in this volume is noble and important not only for rhetoric studies, not only for rhetoric and composition pedagogy, but as a vision of what higher education might aspire to that goes beyond preparing students to earn a living. They are models of how we might prepare them to make a difference."—Gerard A. Hauser, from the foreword, College Professor of Distinction in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder

Winner, 2011 Reflections Journal Outstanding Book Award for Civil Scholarship