Rhetoric of Rhetoric

In this manifesto, distinguished critic Wayne Booth claims that communication in every corner of life can be improved if we study rhetoric closely.

• Written by Wayne Booth, author of the seminal book, The Rhetoric of Fiction (1961).


• Explores the consequences of bad rhetoric in education, in politics, and in the media.


• Investigates the possibility of reducing harmful conflict by practising a rhetoric that depends on deep listening by both sides.

About the Author:

Wayne C. Booth is Distinguished Service Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Chicago. His previous publications include The Rhetoric of Fiction (1961), A Rhetoric of Irony (1974), Critical Understanding (1979), The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction (1988), The Craft of Research (with Williams and Colomb, 1994), and For the Love of It: Amateuring and Its Rivals (1999). Like most of his publications, his teaching has concentrated on diverse ways of improving human communication.