Keith Yellin, Battle Exhortation: The Rhetoric of Combat Leadership. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, coll. "Studies in Rhetoric/Communication", 2008, x-191p.
Isbn 13 (ean): 9781570037351
Recension par Gregory S. Aldrete (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review: 2008.11.32
Présentation de l'éditeur:
In this groundbreaking examination of the symbolic strategies usedto prepare troops for imminent combat, Keith Yellin offers aninterdisciplinary look into a mode of rhetorical discourse that hasplayed a prominent role in warfare, history, and popular culture fromantiquity to the present day. In Battle Exhortation hefocuses on one of the most time-honored forms of motivationalcommunication, the encouraging speech of military commanders, to offera pragmatic and scholarly evaluation of how persuasion contributes tocombat leadership.
Yellin establishes battle exhortationas a distinct genre of discourse originating from humankind's war-pronehistory and the age-old need to inspire troops to fight. Inillustrating his subject's conventions, Yellin draws from the Bible,classical Greece and Rome, Spanish conquistadors, and especiallyAmerican military forces. Yellin is also interested in how audiencesare socialized to recognize and anticipate this type of communicationthat precedes difficult team efforts. To account for this dimension heprobes examples as diverse as Shakespeare's Henry V, George C. Scott's portrayal of General George S. Patton, and team sports.
Yellinalso examines the constraints that shape battle exhortation, includingthe specific circumstances of a given war, the combat arm of theaudience, the presence of nonmilitary observers, and the personalcharacter and style of the speaker. Speculating on the future of battleexhortation while honoring its rich tradition, this work will be ofkeen interest to students of communication, history, and militaryleadership.