Rhetoric in the New World: Rhetorical Theory and Practice in Colonial Spanish America

In Rhetoric in the New World, Abbott shows that when the literate culture of the Old World confronted the oral culture of the New, rhetoricians faced issues unanticipated by their classical predecessors and for which European experiences offered few insights. He reconstructs rhetoric's role in Spain's American empire, describing the colonies as the site of extraordinary conflicts between cultures, traditions, religions, and languages. According to Abbott, never before had rhetoric been required to confront peoples and places so apparently alien to its ancient Mediterranean origins.