Rhetoric: An Introduction

Rhetoric is simply the art of persuasive communication. It embrases all «public» discourse that seeks to have an effect upon its audience: all discourse from the campaign trail, the pulpit, the court of law, the government, the advertising agency, the public relations office, scientific agencies, the media, management, and trade unions. In this introduction we briefly consider both the development of rhetoric from its classical beginnings to modern rhetoric and the rhetorical method.