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 Using
this book, which combines the principles of invitational rhetoric
with a strategy suggested by the work of Carl Rogers, students
of public speaking can acquire the art and skill of engaging in
civil discourse. Speakers learn to offer their perspectives while
creating an environment of freedom, safety and value for members
of their audience. They learn to express empathy, understanding
and respect for views different from their own. They may even
endorse elements of another person's point of view and seek common
ground between that point of view and their own. Such an approach
to public speaking enables the practitioner to communicate effectively
with a diverse audience and overcome the deficits of the adversarial
nature of much of current rhetoric in the civic arena. Essentially,
the book addresses the challenge of creating public policy in
a democracy made up of many cultures, identities and points of
view. Twenty speech assignments are included.
Linda Powers is an instructor in Communication Studies at Wofford
College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She holds a B.A. from
the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida; an M.A.T. in Humanities
from Converse College; and an M.A. in Journalism from the University
of South Carolina. She has taught public speaking for 29 years
and practices her own public speaking skills in Spartanburg where
she is an elected official -- a Commissioner of Public Works.
Public speaking has always been a necessary component of my
work as a music therapist. I find this text to be informative,
non-preachy, and eminently practical. Well written, always affirmative,
with a liberal use of metaphor and sprinkled with humour, this
engaging book is also a very "good read" for anyone involved in
public speaking, whatever their field.
—Dr. Rosemary G. Fischer
Professor Emerita
Wilfrid Laurier University
Ontario, Canada
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