Encyclopedia of Rhetoric

This ambitious new encyclopedia covers rhetoric from all times and places in some 200 signed entries by 120 scholarly contributors from around the world. Bibliographies are appended to each article, and the index and a Synoptic Outline of Contents provide fine access points. Typical articles include "Public Speaking," "Queer Rhetoric," "Synecdoche," and "Science." This work abstracts rhetoric from people, places, and cultures in search of the "principles" of rhetoric, excluding, for example, entries for relevant historical figures. This emphasis on the abstract differentiates it from the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition (Garland, 1996), which has more than twice as many entries in about the same number of pages and includes, for example, entries for people. Though these two excellent books often duplicate each other, both include information and insights not found in the other. Libraries serving patrons concerned with the art and history of rhetoric should have both. Given the high price of both books, other libraries will have to choose between the practicality of the older one and the more theoretical emphasis of the newer one.