Rhet Ops: Rhetoric and Information Warfare

Editor(s):
Jim Ridolfo
William Hart-Davidson
Book summary:

In this edited voulme, authors seek to document and analyze how state and non-state actors leverage digital rhetoric as a twenty-first-century weapon of war. Rhet Ops offer readers a chance to focus on the human dimension of rhetorical practice within mobile technologies and social networks: to reflect not only on the durable question of what it means to conduct oneself ethically as a speaker or writer, but also what it means to learn the art of rhetoric as a means to engage adversaries in war and conflict.

Publication year:
2019
Publisher:
University of Pittsburgh Press
Praise:
So important and timely. Each chapter considers in different ways the consequences of our failure to address weaponized digital rhetorics, especially when such rhetorics result in mass disinformation campaigns. What’s especially unique about this volume is that it includes both academic and practitioner perspectives. The other thing I really love about this book is the ways it integrates Marxist material rhetorics (and even Foucault) in meaningful, contemporary ways. For all of the ways our field has moved on into ‘new’ materialisms and other re-imaginings of extant theories, we sometimes lose sight of these foundational scholarly contributions.
— Dr. Christa B. Teston, The Ohio State University
Many of these essays, showing the benefits of seeing rhetoric as a weapon, are excellent models for cutting edge scholarship. The book doesn’t have a single political agenda and, in our day of polarized discourse, that ensures that everyone will love and hate something in the collection.
— Dr. Trish Roberts-Miller, University of Texas-Austin
Bio:
Short bio:
Jim Ridolfo's work focuses on the intersection of rhetorical theory and digital technology. His first book, The Available Means of Persuasion: Mapping a Theory and Pedagogy of Multimodal Public Rhetoric (with David Sheridan and Anthony Michel) was published in 2012 by Parlor Press. His second book, Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities (co-edited with William Hart-Davidson) was published by University of Chicago Press in 2015 and received the Computers and Composition Distinguished Book Award. His third book, Digital Samaritans: Rhetorical Delivery and Engagement in the Digital Humanities, was published by University of Michigan Press in 2015 and received the 2017 Conference on College Composition and Communication Research Impact Award. His fourth book Rhet Ops: Rhetoric and Information Warfare (co-edited with William Hart-Davidson), is available for pre-order from University of Pittsburgh Press.
A&S department affiliation:
Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies
Book URL:
https://www.upress.pitt.edu/books/9780822945895/
Book keywords:
rhetoric, warfare, information, fake news