'One of Vickers's great accomplishments is that, with an erudition as deep as his touch is light, he shows the central role rhetoric has actually played in Western culture ... Vickers's book is also a triumph of formal exposition. It contains a remarkably lucid account of the three genres of oratory ... It also includes the best and clearest discussion of the rhetorical tropes and figures of which I am aware. It is full of excellent examples of various devices, and it provides a magnificent instance of formal rhetorical criticism in its analysis of the use of the figures and tropes in the "Aeolus" episode in Joyce's Ulysses.' Times Literary Supplement

• List of IllustrationsReferences1. An Outline of Classical Rhetoric- Rhetoric and Life- The Major Texts- The Main Processes of Rhetorica) The Three Genresb) The Stages of Compositionc) The Parts of a Speechd) The Orator's Three Dutiese) The Three Styles2. Plato's Attack on Rhetoric3. Territorial Disputes: Philosophy versus Rhetoric- Responses to Plato- The Triumph of Rhetoric- The Revenge of Philosophy4. Medieval Fragmentation5. Renaissance Reintegration6. The Expressive Function of Rhetorical Figures7. Rhetoric and the Sister Arts8. Rhetoric in the Modern Novel9. Epilogue: The Future of RhetoricBibliographyIndex