The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America

by James Darsey

Overview

This expansive volume traces the rhetoric of reform across American history, examining such pivotal periods as the American Revolution, slavery, McCarthyism, and today's gay liberation movement. At a time when social movements led by religious leaders, from Louis Farrakhan to Pat Buchanan, are playing a central role in American politics, James Darsey connects this radical tradition with its prophetic roots.
Public discourse in the West is derived from the Greek principles of civility, diplomacy, compromise, and negotiation. On this model, radical speech is often taken to be a sympton of social disorder. Not so, contends Darsey, who argues that the rhetoric of reform in America represents the continuation of a tradition separate from the commonly accepted principles of the Greeks. Though the links have gone unrecognized, the American radical tradition stems not from Aristotle, he maintains, but from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814744154
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1999
Series:	Open Access Lib and HC
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	449,394
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

James Darsey is Assistant Professor of Communication at Northern Illinois University.

What People are Saying About This

Daniel Boyarin

The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America importantly connects the radical rhetorical tradition with biblical (prophetic) roots as an alternative to the Greek rhetorical tradition. . . . The book also makes an important contribution to the history of the present in showing that contemporary radical movements are grounded in American tradition and ethos. The story tells of a direct, actual, and unbroken line from Paine and the revolution to Phillips to Debs [that] is simply riveting.
—Daniel Boyarin, author of A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity

From the Publisher

"The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America importantly connects the radical rhetorical tradition with biblical (prophetic) roots as an alternative to the Greek rhetorical tradition. . . . The book also makes an important contribution to the history of the present in showing that contemporary radical movements are grounded in American tradition and ethos. The story tells of a direct, actual, and unbroken line from Paine and the revolution to Phillips to Debs [that] is simply riveting."

-Daniel Boyarin,author of A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity

John D'Emilio

A bold, serious and ambitious book. Darsey sets out to redefine the sources of America's radical rhetorical tradition. He does it in pursuit of a noble purpose, to demonstrate that contemporary jeremiads about the decline of civility in American life, coming from both the right and left, are just hooey.
—John D'Emilio, Lambda Book Report

Editorial Reviews

Darsey (communications, Northern Illinois U.) traces the rhetoric of reform through US history, focusing on such periods as the revolution, slavery, McCarthyism, and today's gay liberation movement. He calls for a more sophisticated analysis of contemporary radicalism than the dichotomies between civil and incivil, and reason and unreason. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

An exceptionally important book. . . . Darsey comes to grips with radical rhetoric in a way so much more profound and insightful than rhetorical critics have been able to do thus far.

Quarterly Journal of Speech

A richly textured, sometimes dazzling\, always provocative study.

Rhetoric and Public Affairs

"The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America importantly connects the radical rhetorical tradition with biblical (prophetic) roots as an alternative to the Greek rhetorical tradition. . . . The book also makes an important contribution to the history of the present in showing that contemporary radical movements are grounded in American tradition and ethos. The story tells of a direct, actual, and unbroken line from Paine and the revolution to Phillips to Debs [that] is simply riveting."

Daniel Boyarin

” The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America importantly connects the radical rhetorical tradition with biblical (prophetic) roots as an alternative to the Greek rhetorical tradition. . . . The book also makes an important contribution to the history of the present in showing that contemporary radical movements are grounded in American tradition and ethos. The story tells of a direct, actual, and unbroken line from Paine and the revolution to Phillips to Debs [that] is simply riveting.”

-Daniel Boyarin,author of A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity

From the Publisher