Rhetorical Questions: Studies of Public Discourse

by Edwin Black

From classical antiquity through the Renaissance, rhetoric was the prime vehicle of education in the West and the discipline that prepared students for civic life. With a comprehensiveness drawn from this tradition, Edwin Black here probes the incongruities between form and substance that open public discourse to significant interpretation. 

Locating rhetorical studies at the confluence of literature and politics, Black focuses on the ideological component of seemingly literary texts and the use of literary devices to advance political advocacy. The essays collected here range in subject matter from nineteenth-century oratory to New York Times editorials to the rhetoric of Richard Nixon. Unifying the collection are the concerns of secrecy and disclosure, identity, opposition, the scope of argument in public persuasion, and the historical mutability of rhetorical forms.

220 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 1992

About the author

Is an American syndicated columnist and journalist. He specializes in human rights, the historical interplay between economics and politics in the Middle East, petroleum policy, the abuses practiced by corporations, and the financial underpinnings of Nazi Germany.

Reviews

[Craig Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to the use of literary devices to advance political advocacy.

Early in the book Black looks at the speeches of Johnson juxtaposed with Hitler's.

The power behind racial, sectional and national idioms used in political rhetoric is well covered.