“Chapters are well organized with updated examples in clear language our foreign students understand. Thank you to Sonja Foss! Another winner.” — Susan Tomasovic, George Mason University

“This is my go-to text when I teach any rhetorical course, particularly for students new to the discipline. The readings are accessible and the foundation the chapters provide, coupled with the student paper examples, allow for a solid footing in rhetorical criticism.” — Tracey Patton, University of Wyoming

“Essential reading alongside traditional rhetorical theory texts.” — Sarah Jedd, University of Wisconsin

“I believe I have used every edition of this excellent work over the years but the Fifth Edition is clearly the best one . . . and that is saying something!” — Richard Leo Enos, Texas Christian University

“I love the new edition for many reasons. This is a text that has stood the test of time. The upgrades and improvements in this edition are impressive: a new emphasis on writing literature reviews, for example, is most welcome; the selection of student-written essays is expanded; feminism is again treated in a chapter-length piece; and the price is economical for students.” — Daniel Brown, Grove City College

“Foss’s text is the gold standard for rhetorical criticism. I have used it through many editions because her basic premise is inquiry and how to assist students in making rhetoric useful beyond the classroom.” — Heather Lettner-Rust, Longwood University

Part I: INTRODUCTION

1. The Nature of Rhetorical Criticism
Rhetoric / Rhetorical Criticism

2. Doing Rhetorical Criticism
Selecting an Artifact / Analyzing the Artifact / Formulating a Research Question / Reviewing Relevant Literature / Writing the Essay / Applying the Analysis in Activism / Assessing the Essay / What Comes Next

3. Neo-Aristotelian Criticism: Genesis of Rhetorical Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Conventional Wisdom—Traditional Form—The President's Message of November 3, 1969 (Forbes Hill); Laying the Foundations of Power: A Neo-Aristotelian Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

Part II: CRITICAL APPROACHES

4. Cluster Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Crisis Leadership and Hurricane Katrina: The Portrayal of Authority by the Media in Natural Disasters (Robert S. Littlefield and Andrea M. Quenette); An Invitation to Reopen Debate: Jimmy Carter's Speech at Brandeis University (Mary E. Domenico); A Rhetoric of Reassurance: A Cluster Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

5. Fantasy-Theme Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Rhetorical Visions of Health: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Celebrity Articles (Amanda Hinnant and Elizabeth Hendrickson); Coping with Loss: U2's "One Tree Hill" (Kelly Mendoza); Reassurance through Normalization: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

6. Feminist Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: "The Man for His Time": The Big Lebowski as Carnivalesque Social Critique (Paul "Pablo" Martin and Valerie Renegar); Americanizing Gay Parents: A Feminist Analysis of Daddy's Roommate (Dara R. Krause, See Vang, and Shonagh L. Brent); The Enactment of Advanced Style: Strategies Fashioned to Disrupt the Ideology of Aging (Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, and Yufang Zhang)

7. Generic Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Dismantling the Guitar Hero? A Case of Prodused Parody and Disarmed Subversion (Jörgen Skågeby); The Transference of Power: A Generic Description of Handover Rhetoric (Andrew Gilmore); Beauty in Conflict: Discussion on Art (Danielle Montoya); Banksy at Disneyland: Generic Participation in Culture Jamming (Joshua Carlisle Harzman)

8. Ideological Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Memory and Myth at the Buffalo Bill Museum (Greg Dickinson, Brian L. Ott, and Eric Aoki); Cyber Ideology: An Ideological Criticism of the UNICEF, UNAIDS, and UNFPA Websites (Khadidiatou Ndiaye) / Legitimation of an Unwanted Transition: Jiang Zemin's Ideology to Legitimize the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

9. Metaphoric Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Hugo Chávez and the Building of His Self-Image through Metaphor (Isabel Negro Alousque); Architectural Metaphor as Subversion: The Portland Building (Marla Kanengieter-Wildeson) / Reframing an Unwanted Transition: A Metaphoric Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

10. Narrative Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: "You Don't Play, You Volunteer": Narrative Public Memory Construction in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (Aaron Hess); Facilitating Openness to Difference: A Narrative Analysis of Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit (Laura S. More, Randi Boyd, Julie Bradley, and Erin Harris) / To Ensure a Successful Transition: A Narrative Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

11. Pentadic Criticism
Procedures / Sample Essays: Fahrenheit 9/11's Purpose-Driven Agents: A Multipentadic Approach to Political Entertainment (Samantha Senda-Cook); The Construction of Agency as a Cause for Recall: A Pentadic Analysis of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's Victory Speech (Rachael Shaff); Circumvention of Power: A Pentadic Analysis of Jiang Zemin's Address at the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)

12. Generative Criticism
Encountering a Curious Artifact / Coding the Artifact / Searching for an Explanation / Creating an Explanatory Schema / Assessing the Explanatory Schema / Formulating a Research Question / Coding the Artifact in Detail / Searching the Literature / Writing the Essay / Sample Essays: Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run (Sonja K. Foss, William J. C. Waters, and Bernard J. Armada); Coding for Coping with Fatal Illness; Coping with Fatal Illness: Avery's Bucket List as Reality Television (Rachael L. Thompson Kuroiwa) / Romancing the Chinese Identity: Rhetorical Strategies Used to Facilitate Identification in the Handover of Hong Kong (Andrew Gilmore)