In this thought-provoking and gracefully written new book, Sidney Dobrin examines current debates over the relative value of theoretical and practical knowledges, both in the academy in general and in the discipline of rhetoric and composition. He explores arguments about whether theorizing is an appropriate mode of scholarly inquiry for a field that is primarily informed by practical knowledge, whether theory-building in general speaks to local concerns, and whether the production of theory in composition leads to scholarship that is more obfuscating than illuminating. Ultimately, Dobrin argues that theoretical investigation should be an indispensable form of knowledge-making in composition and that theory and practice must necessarily inform one another.

Sidney I. Dobrin is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. With Gary A. Olson, he co-edited Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom, published by SUNY Press, and is co-editor of JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory.