Rhetoric: An Historical Introduction

"Professor Olmsted has produced a much-needed and unique book: an account of rhetorical thinking through the ages focused on specific texts in their cultural contexts. The book does something far more important than impart mere doctrine: it demonstrates how, and teaches one, to think like a rhetorician. It will make an invaluable contribution in and out of the classroom." Walter Jost, University of Virgina

"Wendy Olmsted gives scholars and teachers in many disciplines a valuable new kind of historical introduction to rhetoric. In three interrelated sections she provides a clear overview of classical rhetoric, incisive case studies of literature and rhetoric, and a suggestive discussion of rhetorical invention and argument in literary criticism, politics, and law. This book creatively teaches us how to think rhetorically through concrete historical examples of deliberation and judgment." Steven Mailloux, University of California