Shaping Rhetorical Studies: The Research of RSA Fellows, with Commentary

Edited by Cheryl Glenn, Richard Leo Enos, and David Blakesley With a foreword by Andrea Lunsford and Jack Selzer >> Please Note! Orders will ship on or about August 15, 2026! Information and Pricing 978-1-64317-597-3 (paperback, $49.95); 978-1-64317-598-0 (PDF, $29.95); 978-1-64317-599-7 (EPUB, $29.95) © 2026 by Parlor Press, with illustrations, notes, and bibliographies. 348 pages. Bookstores: Order by fax, mail, or phone. See our "Sales and Ordering Page" for details. What People Are Saying "A group tutorial on how to be a consummate professional. —Andrea Lunsford and Jack Selzer" About This Book Shaping Rhetorical Studies brings together influential essays selected by Fellows of the Rhetoric Society of America as among the most important works of their scholarly careers. Representing more than five decades of rhetorical inquiry, the collection offers readers a rare opportunity to revisit foundational scholarship alongside new reflections from the scholars who produced it. The volume traces the development of contemporary rhetorical studies across diverse areas of research, including rhetorical history, feminist historiography, composition theory, rhetorical agency, genre studies, public discourse, visual rhetoric, ethnography, science communication, pedagogy, film rhetoric, and digital humanities. Contributors engage rhetorical questions that continue to animate the field today: What are the boundaries of rhetoric? How do rhetorical practices shape public life? What counts as evidence or method in rhetorical research? How are agency, identity, listening, and civic participation rhetorically constituted? The collection is organized into four thematic sections: Making Rhetorical History Developing Rhetorical Theory and Research Applying Rhetorical Studies Embodying and Enacting Rhetorical Studies Each chapter pairs a landmark essay with new commentary in which contributors reflect on the intellectual contexts, collaborations, pedagogical concerns, and methodological risks that shaped their work. These retrospective essays provide readers with valuable insight into the development of rhetorical scholarship and the professional practices that sustain it. In their foreword, Andrea Lunsford and Jack Selzer describe the collection as both “a retrospective of rhetorical studies” and “a group tutorial on how to be a consummate professional.” Running throughout the volume are recurring themes of mentorship, teaching, intellectual courage, interdisciplinarity, and scholarly collaboration. Featuring essays by Richard Leo Enos, Cheryl Glenn, Arthur Walzer, S. Michael Halloran, David Zarefsky, Victor J. Vitanza, Edward Schiappa, Jeanne Fahnestock, Marie Secor, Cheryl Geisler, Jacqueline Jones Royster, Krista Ratcliffe, Gregory Clark, Gerard A. Hauser, Patricia Bizzell, Andrea Lunsford, Lisa Ede, Jack Selzer, Shirley Wilson Logan, David Blakesley, David Kaufer, Suguru Ishizaki, Carolyn R. Miller, Ralph Cintron, Lester Olson, Leah Ceccarelli, and Debra Hawhee, Shaping Rhetorical Studies serves as both an indispensable resource for specialists and an ideal introduction for graduate students and emerging scholars seeking to understand the evolution, scope, and future directions of rhetorical studies. About the Editors Cheryl Glenn is Distinguished Professor of English, Emerita, and co-founder of Penn State's Center for Democratic Deliberation. An award-winning scholar, teacher, and mentor, she has published widely and lectured worldwide. In 2009, she received the Young Rhetoricians’ Rhetorician of the Year Award; in 2015, she received an honorary doctorate from Orebro University in Sweden; in 2019, she received the Conference on College Composition and Communication Exemplar Award; and in 2024, she was inducted as a Rhetoric Society of America Fellow. Richard Leo Enos is Emeritus Professor of English at Texas Christian University. His research area is in classical rhetoric with an emphasis in examining the relationship between orality and literacy. He is the author of Greek Rhetoric Before Aristotle and Roman Rhetoric: Revolution and the Greek Influence, both of which are published by Parlor Press. He received the RSA George E. Yoos Distinguished Service Award and was named a Fellow in 2006. He was awarded the RSA Cheryl Geisler Mentorship Award in 2018. David Blakesley is the Robert S. Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and Professor of Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University. He founded Parlor Press in 2002 and serves as its Publisher and CEO. He has authored, coauthored or edited eleven books, including The Elements of Dramatism, The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film, and Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age. His articles have appeared in WPA, JAC, enculturation, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Composition Studies, The Writing Instructor, Kairos, and other journals and anthologies. He received the George E. Yoos Award and was named an RSA Fellow in 2016.