Interrogates the story of rhetoric promoted in standard historical accounts and reconsiders the relationship between rhetorical theory, practice, and pedagogy.

Interrogates the story of rhetoric promoted in standard historical accounts and reconsiders the relationship between rhetorical theory, practice, and pedagogy.

The Viability of the Rhetorical Tradition reconsiders the relationship between rhetorical theory, practice, and pedagogy. Continuing the line of questioning begun in the 1980s, contributors examine the duality of a rhetorical canon in determining if past practice can make us more (or less) able to address contemporary concerns. Also examined is the role of tradition as a limiting or inspiring force, rhetoric as a discipline, rhetoric's contribution to interest in civic education and citizenship, and the possibilities digital media offer to scholars of rhetoric.

Richard Graff is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Arthur E. Walzer is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and the author of George Campbell: Rhetoric in the Age of Enlightenment, also published by SUNY Press. Janet M. Atwill is Associate Professor of English at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and coeditor (with Janice M. Lauer) of Perspectives on Rhetorical Invention.