Rhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Work Edited by Gary A. Olson April 2002 ISBN 0-8093-2433-4, $29.50 paper 288 pages, 6 x 9 Rhetoric and Composition “Full of insights, courage, and hope, Rhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Work is an invaluable book for educators, students, and others who believe that analyzing and writing the word represents a form of public intervention that is central to understanding and engaging the world.” —Henry A. Giroux, Penn State University   In response to those who insist that rhetoric and composition should remain only a service discipline, editor Gary A. Olson’s Rhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Work demonstrates that it already is an intellectual discipline, that for at least a quarter of a century the field has developed an impressive tradition of intellectual work in a remarkable assortment of subject areas. Rhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Work suggests the diversity of intellectual projects that have and will continue to make rhetoric and composition more than a service to the university, more than a field devoted solely to improving writing pedagogy, and more than a preliminary to literary studies.   This collection of nineteen essays by some of the most distinguished scholars in the discipline illustrates that rhetoric and composition has much to contribute to the intellectual milieu of the contemporary university, as the field continues to push its disciplinary borders and discover new sites of investigation.   Gary A. Olson is a professor of English and the coordinator of the graduate program in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida. A past editor of JAC, his fifteen books include the edited volumes of Philosophy, Rhetoric, Literary Criticism and Interviews: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Rhetoric and Literacy with Irene Gale.   Contents and Contributors Jasper Neel, “Reclaiming Our Theoretical Heritage” C. Jan Swearingen, “Rhetoric and Composition as a Coherent Intellectual Discipline” Gary A. Olson, “The Death of Composition as an Intellectual Discipline” Charles Bazerman, “The Case for Writing Studies as a Major Discipline” Susan Miller, “Writing Studies as a Mode of Inquiry” Susan Wells, “Claiming the Archive for Rhetoric and Composition” Susan C. Jarratt, “New Dispositions for Historical Studies in Rhetoric” Gary A. Olson, “Ideological Critique in Rhetoric and Composition” Tom Fox, “Working Against the State” Lynn Worsham, “Coming to Terms” Keith Gilyard, “Holdin’ It Down” Steven Mailloux, “From Segregated Schools to Dimpled Chads” Thomas Kent, “Paralogic Rhetoric” Barbara Couture, “Writing and Truth” Victor J. Vitanza, “ Seeing in Third Sophistic Ways” Sharon Crowley, “Body Studies in Rhetoric and Composition” John Trimbur, “Delivering the Message” Cynthia L. Selfe and Richard J. Selfe, “The Intelligent Work of Computers and Composition Studies” William A. Covino, “The Eternal Return of Magic-Rhetoric”