The essays in this collection, written by sixteen scholars in rhetoric and communications studies, demonstrate American philosopher John Dewey's wide-ranging influence on rhetoric in an intellectual tradition that addresses the national culture's fundamental conflicts between self and society, freedom and responsibility, and individual advancement and the common good. Brian Jackson and Gregory Clark propose that this influence is at work both in theoretical foundations and in Dewey's debates with other public intellectuals.

Gregory Clark is professor of English and associate dean of the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University. He is the author of Rhetorical Landscapes in America: Variations on a Theme from Kenneth Burke (University of South Carolina Press).