Updates and Revisions

This page contains a record of updates to Reading Rhetorical Theory (RRT). Although there are no new ‘editions’ of this volume due to the editable OER format, this page is intended to offer a similar form of documentation. Each series of updates is accompanied by a year-date and a version number.

Updates in 2025: RRT Version 2.0

In 2025, Reading Rhetorical Theory underwent several major updates: 

1. The order of chapters was changed and sorted under new headers to better reflect the progression of the book’s major units.
   • Explanatory prefaces were added for Part 1: Speech, Part 2: Representation, and Part 3: Power. Each of these unit introductions contains an overview of the unit and an explanation of the chapter progression.
   • The Rhetorical Situation was moved to the end of Part 1: Speech.
   • Rhetoric and Ideology was moved to the beginning of Part 3: Power.
   • The Settler Situation was re-titled Settler-Colonial Rhetoric(s). It appears in Part 3: Power.
   • The Secrecy Situation was re-titled The Rhetoric of Secrecy and Surveillance. It appears in Part 3: Power.
   • The Digital Situation was re-titled Digital Rhetoric(s). It appears in Part 3: Power.
2. New chapters from invited subject-matter experts (see “Contributors”) have been included across each of the sections. These are scheduled for release in early 2025.

• • “Rhetoric and the First Amendment” by Emily Berg Paup
  • “The Public Sphere” by Angela McGowan-Kirsch  (Published online 1/3/25)
  • “Counterpublics” by Carlos A. Flores and Sarah E. Jones (Published online 1/3/25)
  • “Latine Rhetoric(s)” by  Robert Mejia and Diana Isabel Martínez

These changes bring the total number of chapters in the book to 18, although as always, there is not — and will never be — a chapter 13. While the web address of the textbook remains identical, nearly all of the chapters have new permalinks. This change was necessary because many of the original links contained a chapter number that had to be adjusted due to the inclusion of new chapters and the reorganization of existing chapters.

Other, smaller changes in 2025 include:

• Updates to the introduction and chapter 1 to reflect the new progression of chapters, recommendations about how to use this book, and the significance of the three unit headings.
• Adjustments to Rhetoric and Narrative, including fixes to broken video links and more detailed explanations of narrative fidelity and narrative coherence.
• Changes to sequential language across several chapters, such as “in previous/earlier/last chapters/units/weeks.”
• Updates to the diagram for “the plan of this book” that appears in the Introduction.
• Updates to the “Contributors” page to include new chapter authors and revised chapter titles.