Barry Brummett is the Charles Sapp Centennial Professor in Communication Emeritus of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1978 and taught at Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin before coming to the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, retiring in 2022. Brummett has authored, coauthored, or edited numerous articles, scholarly essays, and books, including Rhetoric of Style, Clockwork Rhetoric: The Language and Style of Steampunk, Contemporary Apocalyptic Rhetoric, Techniques of Close Reading, Rhetoric of Machine Aesthetics, and The Politics of Style and the Style of Politics. His research pursuits include the rhetoric of popular culture, epistemology, and the theories of Kenneth Burke.

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• PrefaceChapter 1. On Noticing What You See and HearBeing a Reader, Being a CriticSummary and Looking AheadChapter 2. Theories, Methods, TechniquesExploring New Territories: Thinking Deductively and InductivelyStarting From the Top, Deductively: Theories and Their MethodsKnowledge, Risk, and Ethics in Theories and MethodsWorking With Theories and MethodsHalfway Down, Deductively: Methods and TechniquesHeading Back Up Again, Inductively: From Techniques to TheorySummary and Looking AheadChapter 3. Using Form for Close ReadingNarrativeGenrePersonaForm and PoliticsSummary and Looking AheadChapter 4. Ideology and ArgumentFour Questions to Ask About a TextPutting Our Questions Together: A Brief ExampleThree Examples for Close ReadingSummary and Looking AheadChapter 5. Transformations in Texts: Seeing Beneath the SurfaceMetaphorMetonymySynecdocheIronySummary and Looking AheadChapter 6. Close Readings Using Multiple TechniquesThe First Inauguration of Barack Obama in a CartoonA Group of Ads for Liberty MutualChapter 7. ConclusionReferences and Recommended ReadingIndexAbout the Author