Rhetoric Alive! Book 1: Principles of Persuasion (Student Edition)

A one-semester or yearlong course for grades 10-12

It is not enough to win the argument—we must win the person.

Rhetoric Alive! Book 1: Principles of Persuasion (Student Edition), written by Alyssan Barnes, an experienced rhetoric teacher with a PhD in rhetoric, is a clear, compelling, and delightful text on rhetorical theory and practice. It is a vital step for students before they leave high school.

The highly engaging Rhetoric Alive! explores the principles of winsome speech as developed in the foremost text on persuasion, Aristotle’s Rhetoric. The 15 chapters of Rhetoric Alive! step through the essential components of persuasion—the three appeals, the three types of speech, and the five canons. Each chapter includes an exemplary classic text for analysis and discussion, spanning from Pericles’s “Funeral Oration” to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Students also have plenty of opportunities to practice developing their own rhetorical skill through weekly workshops, imitation assignments, and oratory presentations.

What sets Rhetoric Alive! (RA) apart from other rhetoric texts?

• RA balances philosophical and practical application
• RA moves students from understanding into doing
• RA uses high school language, resulting in more comprehension
• RA includes discussion texts, workshops, and speeches
• RA brings Aristotle excerpts into contemporary moments
• RA has everything teachers and students need in one place
• RA is clearly laid out, comprehensive, and easy to use

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What people are saying about Rhetoric Alive! Book 1:

“Rhetoric Alive! is a highly knowledgeable, comprehensive, and clear Aristotelian treatment of the art of rhetoric. . . . Its virtues are many, but two are especially prominent: its patient pedagogy and its detailed and interesting exercises. . . . This is a living rhetoric bound to animate the spoken and written suasions of any teacher or student who submits to its instruction.” (Taken from the foreword.) —Scott F. Crider, PhD, Author of The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay

“This text has the potential to shake up English studies at the secondary level. It is a formidable and appealing innovation that is wonderfully old-fashioned and yet as fresh as anything I’ve seen in a long time.” —John Briggs, PhD, Director, University Writing Program, UC Riverside

“Rhetoric Alive! moves Aristotle’s ideas and concepts out of the classical past and sets them on the bottom shelf for high school students—and the accomplishment is that it does so without reducing them, but instead revealing their relevance and worth. It delivers on the aspiration of the title: It brings Aristotle’s Rhetoric alive.” —Craig Doerksen, Head of the School of Rhetoric, Regents School of Austin

“Combining Aristotle’s insights on rhetoric with examples of speech and writing ranging from Augustine to Shakespeare and from Emily Dickinson to Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Alyssan Barnes has written an illuminating and useful guide for all K-12 teachers of the liberal arts. The selections are well-chosen and age-appropriate. The analysis is first-rate. The connection of past to present is exemplary. Excellent scholarship combined with practical applications.” —Dr. Peter Gibbon, Senior Research Fellow, Boston University