The Rhetoric of Cool

Jeff Rice's argument — that composition studies took a wrong turn in 1963 by ignoring technology, culture, and visual writing — is a genuinely original thesis, and the six-gesture framework he constructs around 'cool' has influenced how rhetoric and new media scholars think about digital writing pedagogy. This is a book for graduate students and faculty in the field, not general readers, and some specific new media examples have dated since 2007. Within its intended audience, it earns its place on the shelf.