Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest

This volume includes thirty of the most significant essays from the literature on social protest rhetoric. From Leland Griffin’s groundbreaking work, "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements," to very recent case studies of specific movements, the selections show the evolution of a dynamic scholarship—its theoretical foundations, the debates that shape further inquiry, the critical studies that illustrate key theoretical positions. Substantive introductions to the three sections highlight key points, vital connections, and recurring conflicts. A selected bibliography helps students launch their own research on social movements.

Charles E. Morris III is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches courses in the history of American public address, rhetorical criticism, and social protest rhetoric. He has a B.A. from Boston College. He received his M.A. and Ph .D.from The Pennsylvania State University, where he was the recipient of the Kenneth Burke Prize, the Carroll Arnold Award, and the Kathryn DeBoer Distinguished Teaching Award. He has received the National Communication Association’s Karl Wallace Memorial Award and the National Communication Association's Golden Anniversary Monograph Award. Professor Morris’s work has appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, the Free Speech Yearbook, and Women’s Studies in Communication.

Stephen H. Browne is Professor of Speech Communication at The Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches courses in rhetorical theory and criticism. He received his B.S. from the University of Oregon, his M.A. from Colorado State University, and his Ph .D.from the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Edmund Burke and the Discourse of Virtue (1993) and Angelina Grimké: Rhetoric, Identity, and the Radical Imagination (1999), and has published more than thirty essays in the history and criticism of rhetoric in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication Monographs, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, and other journals. Professor Browne is the recipient of the National Communication Association’s Diamond Anniversary Book Award and the Karl Wallace Memorial Award.