The Responsibilities of Rhetoric
Michelle Smith
and Barbara Warnick
This book contains essays from the conference of the Rhetoric Society of America in May 2008. It was designed to answer the question: If rhetors are responsible and responsive to their publics, if rhetoricians instruct and empower those who learn from them, what are the responsibilities of rhetoric in our time? The essays in the volume combine reflections on today's globalized world with considerations of the rhetoric of the future, and they span topics from the rhetoric of graphic novels to bot-written texts in Wikipedia. Their discussions implicate the promotion of public reason in society, the ability to unite publics and communities, and commitment to provide visions of the possible.