The Weimar Origins of Rhetorical Inquiry

This is a wonderful, groundbreaking, and genuinely important book, one that won't be read just in the next couple years, but one that will reward coming back to years from now. Not only is it brilliant in its depth of analysis and understanding of key figures, but it does hugely important work, carving out strong rhetorical content within what has heretofore been received as nearly exclusively philosophical or aesthetic work. The fact that Marshall does so with such rigor further backs the impact of his argument. --Thomas Rickert, Purdue University Beautifully researched and written, The Weimar Origins of Rhetorical Inquiry provides major contributions to high modern intellectual history, political theory, and to the history and theory of rhetoric. I won't be alone in seeing these neighboring fields differently after reading the book. At the same time the book speaks to a broader political culture: especially compelling is how Marshall provides a historically rich account of rhetorical possibility in para-democratic times. --Daniel M. Gross, University of California Irvine The Weimar Origins of Rhetorical Inquiry is as rewarding as it is ambitious. By relocating the rhetorical tradition within an intellectual topology of Heidegger, Arendt, Benjamin, and Warburg, the reader is brought to careful reconsideration of both modern and classical concepts. While erudite and bristling with insights, the book ultimately is a powerful study in method. All that remains is for other scholars to put it to work. --Robert Hariman, Northwestern University