Community & Communication: Oratory & Politics in Republican Rome, Edited by Catherine Steel & Henriette van der Blom, OUP, 2012
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This book addresses one of the key debates in Roman Republican history: the role of oratory in public life.
With careful attention paid to a wide range of ancient evidence, the nineteen contributions in this volume shift the focus from Cicero and the analysis of his oratory towards the various ways in which speech was used by different politicians, and how factors such as audience, speaker personality, and opposition combined with oratory to make speakers successful or unsuccessful. In so doing, the volume challenges the idea that Cicero was a normative figure and highlights the assortment of career choices and speech strategies open to Roman politicians in the Republican period.