Comparative Rhetoric

George A. Kennedy taught classics, comparative literature, and rhetoric at the University of North Carolina for twenty-eight years and now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. He is the author of many books, and is the renowned translator of Aristotle's On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse (OUP, 1991).

This book is the mature reflection of a highly respected scholar in Graeco-Roman rhetoric ... There is a great deal of useful human knowledge in this book ... The presentation of the argument is admirably clear throughout ... The book is not without humour ... This seems to me a brave book. It is courageous to essay into other cultures, some of them still living, and try to summarise their processes ... K's argument will stimulate interest in comparative rhetoric,as he hopes, and has raised questions to which there will be some very interesting responses.

• PART I: RHETORIC IN SOCIETIES WITHOUT WRITING 1. Rhetoric Among Social Animals 2. Rhetorical Factors in the Early Development of Human Language 3. Rhetoric in Aboriginal Australian Culture 4. Formal Speech in Some Oral Cultures 5. North American Indian Rhetoric PART II: RHETORIC IN ANCIENT LITERATE SOCIETIES 6. Literacy and Rhetoric in the Ancient Near East 7. Rhetoric in Ancient China 8. Rhetoric in Ancient India 9. Rhetoric in Greece and Rome