Santa Book

Read the whole book in one day for an assignment and presentation. Brummett states that rhetoricians need to turn away from analyzing discrete texts (ie speeches, essays, etc.) so much and start looking at popular culture as a source of constructing meaning.

Rhetorical critics need to adapt a mosaic model of looking at artifacts. Rather than analyzing the source of the text (ie looking at Lincoln's Gettysburg address), they can shift their attention to the audience and how they construct meaning.

He also talks about the reason hostage stories are so popular in the news: because the media metonymize (or reduce) complex stories into sound bites that people can understand, then promptly forget about.

A good book, laying out a lot of essential ideas about the role of rhetoric in popular culture.